MANKATO — Debby Johnson was Debby Dundas and a high school senior when presidential nominee Jimmy Carter visited Mankato in the fall of 1976.
Now a retired Winnebago resident, Johnson then played baritone in the Mankato East High School marching band when Carter and vice presidential nominee Walter Mondale flew into the Mankato airport and made a campaign stop at Farmfest, which was then in rural Lake Crystal.
The band rode on a bus to the airport with a police escort, never having to stop for red lights. Photographers leaned out of cars to get shots of the dynamic duo Carter and Mondale.
Johnson doesn’t remember what patriotic songs the band played at the airport, but she recalls Carter and Mondale walking through the band talking to students. They didn’t reach the baritones, she said, but she came away changed from the experience.
“There were all sorts of top-ranking people,” she said. “It was really exciting. I wasn’t into politics, but you kind of built an allegiance to Jimmy Carter because you saw him firsthand.”
She recalls turning 18 just before the election and thinks she voted for Carter.
Johnson remembers it was “terribly muddy” at Farmfest. “But the show went on,” she said. “We didn’t complain about it. It was a big deal. You go with the flow and make the best out of it.”
She describes the day Carter visited, which was Sept. 15, as exciting and memorable.
“I was probably much more interested in him and in following him as he campaigned and got elected just because I had met him,” she said. “It was like, now he’s a friend.
“I really admire his work with Habitat for Humanity and his faith that was so strong. He was an incredible person, truly. He was a good role model and what you think a president should be. You could say to your kids, ‘Look at Jimmy Carter and what would he do?’”
Now, with his funeral this week, Johnson is back to thinking about Carter.
“With the fires going on in California, that’s beyond real,” she said. “It’s good to reflect on Jimmy Carter’s life and his faith and hope and helping people in times of need. That’s where we are. People should reach out and do what you can do. Don’t focus on destruction. Focus on hope and love for your neighbors. That keeps me going. I need something positive.”
