TJC Apache Belles remember Jimmy Carter

TYLER — The passing of former President Jimmy Carter has stirred up some memories for the TJC Apache Belles according to our news partner KETK.

In the spring of 1980, they marched in the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington D.C. and were invited to tour the White House. Alumnae of the drill team remember standing in the Rose Garden and Carter appeared with a big smile on his face, ready to greet them.

“It was so exciting. Who gets a chance to meet a president? It’s not very often and once in a lifetime experience,” Dyann Kemp, 32nd line of the Apache Belles, said.

The sixty Apache Belles didn’t think that they were going to have the opportunity to meet Carter.

“He came out and he was larger than life, you know, is everything that you would ever read about him. He was all smiles and happy and joking with us and just being very genuine and personable with us,” Janis Johns, 33rd line of the Apache Belles, said.

Johns described Carter to be a seemingly regular guy who you could just talk, laugh with and a voice you can’t forget. “This was an election year, it was 1980. He walked past me with some of his staff and he turned to one of them and he said, this ought to go over well in East Texas. That’s just something I remember. I can still hear his voice saying that,” Johns said.

The organization made him an honorary “Apache Beau” in the Rose Garden.

“What that means is he’s kind of been inducted into our organization without having auditioned. We just made him a part of history,” said Johns.

Although his passing is heartbreaking for the Belles, they share unforgettable memories with him.