CHICAGO (WLS) — Former President Jimmy Carter is being fondly remembered on Monday night by a local family that has connections to the humanitarian and 39th president going back decades.
But it is a bond that went far beyond just working with Carter in the White House and around the world. Their connection was one so close that it felt more like family.
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“He was like a second grandpa for me,” Andrew Jasculca.
Andrew reflected on Carter and the years he spent working as an advance team leader for The Carter Center.
“His peace missions, election monitoring, like he just he wanted. He wanted it all because he was just a humanitarian who cared about everybody. He wanted the best for everyone he met. And that came across anytime we traveled,” Andrew said.
Andrew first met Carter when he was young when his father was working for The Carter Center on the advance team.
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Rick Jasculca, a public affairs CEO based in Chicago, first did advance work for Carter starting in 1975, when Carter first campaigned for president. It is a business and personal relationship that continued for nearly 50 years.
“It’s more than you know, just the privilege of the assignment of serving the former president and first lady, and their very important work. They’re really family,” Rick said.
Carter is well known for his work with Habitat for Humanity, coming to Chicago in 1986 to help build homes here. Rick was part of that team.
“So, his legacy is understanding the human condition and spending his lifetime dedicated to improving the human condition for everybody,” Rick said.
Carter would later become a dear family friend, seen in a photo holding some of Rick’s grandchildren.
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“When my wife passed away in 2010, the first call I got was from Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, and that meant the world to me,” Rick said.
Carter came back to Chicago in 2014 to give the speech at an event honoring Rick for his years of public affairs work.
But it was a previous trip here in Chicago, when Carter asked to have Rick’s mother visit him at his hotel, that stands out.
“She and the Carters spent an hour and 15 minutes, and I was in the other room, and I was, they were telling stories,” Rick said. “I will never forget that, because that at its core, what were Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.”
Andrew, who has dozens of pictures on his phone of his trips with the Carters, remembers the last time he saw the former president, at Rosalynn’s funeral last year.
“As his wheelchair was loading into the car, we just kind of made eye contact. And, you know, we held hands for a second, and he got into the to the car and drove away,” Andrew said.
It was special moment with a special man who left his mark on people here and around the globe.
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