Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. President and his wife Rosalynn of Plains will be among the former presidents attending the inaugural of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Friday morning.
I am not certain but I believe the Carters have attended the inaugural ceremonies of all the presidents since he went out of office.
Just maybe the Carters will encounter two other Sumter Countians who will be making their first trip to an inaugural ceremony: Crystal Waddell and her son Gage Waddell. How exciting for them. It reminds me of when we were among the throngs at the inaugural of President Jimmy Carter on Jan. 20, 1977. What an awesome and memorable experience. The temperature, unlike the 50ish degrees the Waddells will have, dipped to a low of 3 degrees above zero that morning in 1977, and snow covered the ground. We didn’t mind though because we were dressed warmly and too excited to let something like cold weather bother us.
Needless to say, Crystal and Gage, 14, are thrilled about having this wonderful opportunity. Crystal said they are very grateful to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) of Marietta for providing them with tickets to attend the swearing-in ceremony. It is sure to be an amazing experience for both of them, but especially Gage, who his parents say aspires to claim the office of United States president himself one day. We hope he reaches that goal. While in the nation’s capital, the Waddells will plan to visit museums and historic sites. We look forward to hearing more about their trip when they return.
Then last weekend Jimmy Poole, a semi-retired businessman and electronic/gadget guru, of Americus and his son, Charles Poole, DMD, of Atlanta, checked off an item they had on their bucket list for long time.
They attended the 50th annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), an event that is best known for setting trends in the consumer technology industry for the upcoming year that is held annually in Las Vegas.
Jimmy says the CES was huge. They were among the 175,000 others that tried to cover the 2.6 million square foot exhibit hall that showcased the best from 3,800 companies worldwide and included such things as automobile and home audios, drones, 3-D printing, robotics, virtual and augmented reality, self-driving cars, and super-slim 8K televisions. The Pooles reported that was just the beginning — so much you can’t see it all.
Jimmy, who has a lifelong interest in electronics and gadgetry represented his company, Star Video Productions, and Charles, an Atlanta dentist who worked for Star Video during high school at Southland,  were all too happy to reclaim the connection for this highly acclaimed show of technology exhibits both past and present. Jimmy says just getting there was a feat of logistics itself but Charles navigated through it all and kept them on course every day and night. While in Vegas they were guests at the Westgate Resort and Casino, formerly the Las Vegas Hilton of Elvis Presley fame.
My exploits were few last weekend — not due to weather but illness and thankfully I’m improving.
Nonetheless, I missed attending some swell events, including the beautiful wedding of Ansley Ragan and Chip Evans at First United Methodist Church and the reception afterwards at Sally Run Plantation; however, I enjoyed it vicariously through commentary and good photos sent by our daughters Lori Shivers and Anne Barrett and, of course, my iPad and Facebook! How did we ever get along without Facebook?  It’s like what my father would term “Keeping up with the Joneses.”
Nor, was I among the attendees at Calvary Episcopal Women’s Book Club last Sunday night. Nevertheless, Betty Levins gave me a detailed report. Betty’s creative ideas know no limit and range from artwork, especially the oils on canvas she paints, floral arrangements and interior decorating. So, it’s not a surprise that she took her review of the novel “The Swans of Fifth Avenue,” a fictionalized version of Truman Capote’s Manhattan friends, up several levels with the unique addition of a style show featuring the latest in fashions from The Royal Collection in Albany modeled by Calvary’s own “Swans”: Joni Wolfe and daughter Carey Wooten, Charlotte Chambliss, and Elise Miller.

Leila Sisson Case lives in Americus.