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President Carter monument restored in Rotterdam

A newly restored monument honoring former President Jimmy Carter was recently unveiled in Rotterdam.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter made their home in apartment 7 of building 471 of a military housing complex in Rotterdam from October 1952 until October 1953. In the early 50s, Jimmy Carter was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, studying nuclear physics at nearby Union College, according to Schenectady city historian Chris Leonard.

“After graduating from the Naval Academy, later-to-be-President Carter was tapped by Admiral Hyman Rickover, who was the father of the nuclear Navy, to go specifically to Schenectady, to Union College, and to be part of the Knolls Atomic Power Labs in West Milton, which would later become the Kenneth Kesselring Site," said Leonard. "While he was in Schenectady, he was taking classes at Union College. He was training NCOs, and he was working on the engine and the preparations for the second nuclear submarine, the Seawolf that was being planned."

Vietnam Veteran Bill Frank.

“I understand that while he was here, there was a near-meltdown up in Canada, of a nuclear plant," said Frank. "And he was called upon to go up there and work as a team member to help fix one of the rods that were close to melting down, and I guess it was quite a group that kind of unscrewed the bolts, take the one bad unit out and put a new one in. And each one can only spend up to 90 seconds. They did it, and I understand he worked 89 seconds. And that stayed within the effects of just that. 89 seconds for about six months. He wasn't feeling you know, 100%. But when I found out about he and Rosalynn Carter being here, I was just floored and very impressed. And another thing that I had heard is, while he was here, his dad had passed away. And that's when he left the Navy to go back to Plains, Georgia to work the peanut farm. So his naval career was cut short.”

At an unknown point in time, a plaque commemorating President and Mrs. Carter’s time living in Rotterdam was installed at the former military housing complex, now called Maple Pine Manor. Over the years, the monument fell into disrepair, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by AJS Masonry president Andrew Sciocchetti - who got in touch with New York state Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara.

“I contacted Angelo when I saw the damage done to the monument, which I think weathered over the years," Sciocchetti said. "I don't think it happened at one time, I just think over the years, masonry does deteriorate. We specialize in historic restoration. And I wanted to do this without anybody's knowledge. And I asked him how to do that. He said, ‘I'll get back to you.’ And here we are today. So there's not much more I can add, for all the nice words that were recently spoken about President Carter, except that it's nice to give back to a human being who did so much for the community. It's a little bit of work for us. It's not a big job, but it's meaningful, and I feel proud to be a part of it.”

Santabarbara said to know that Jimmy Carter lived in Rotterdam is underscored by the monument which stands to preserve that small piece of history.

"It's important that we preserve this, this monument for future generations also to know the work of Jimmy Carter to know that he called Rotterdam home at one time, and I think that it's a reason for us to celebrate as a community that we have a piece of that history here with us," said Santabarbara.

Carter, who is now 98, served one term as president from 1977 to 1981. He entered hospice care at his home in Georgia earlier this year.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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