As Jimmy Carter turns 100, his special connection to San Fernando Valley schools is celebrated

On Tuesday, the parish schools of St. Genevieve at Panorama City sent former President Jimmy Carter warm and personal wishes on his 100th birthday.

Daniel Horn, president and principal, organized a celebratory video with students and staff to be shown to the former president before dinner Tuesday night.

Horn told LAist that their relationship with Carter and the late Rosalynn Carter, which dates back to at least 2005, is historic and special to the school’s more than 1,000 students.

“I have no doubt that not only our school, our country, but our entire world is better because Jimmy Carter lived on this earth,” he said.

About the celebration

Saint Genevieve has her own version of the song “Happy Birthday,” which the students sang for the film.

They also recorded group and individual messages for Carter, including: from Horn.

“I am so excited that we can celebrate or participate in your 100th birthday,” he said in a recorded message. “I love you.”

How the Carter family became involved with the Los Angeles school

When Horn was in college, he wrote a letter to Rosalynn Carter praising her for her autobiography.

She invited him to lunch, so he drove several hundred miles to Georgia, expecting to be one of the hundreds attending the official event. But it was just Horn, Rosalynn Carter and another family member.

“We just bonded and kept in touch over the years,” he said.

In 2005, he brought a group of four children to Plains, Georgia, the Carter couple’s beloved hometown. This began a series of dozens of visits over the years with faculty, staff and students.

The couple visited St. several times. Genevieve, including the premiere of the documentary and the unveiling of the school’s “Carter Wall,” which features a signed softball, personal letters and a glass of Jimmy Carter’s favorite whiskey, Old Crow Bourbon.

Continuing the legacy

St. Genevieve is building a performing arts center, which the Carters helped raise money for.

Horn said the new courtyard in front of the theater will be named after the couple.

They will also include a butterfly garden, which Rosalynn Carter worked on bring awareness with the declining population of monarch butterflies.

“The Carters are still very much a presence at our school,” Horn said. “I mean not only that he’s the first president to hit 100 years old, but the fact that we can have this kind of relationship with him — the relationship itself is historic.”