Local & State Headlines

Museum to honor life of Billy Carter

• A museum built in a service station will detail the complex life of Southern icon Billy Carter.

Susan McCord

PLAINS — Outspoken and sometimes misunderstood, Billy Carter is the subject of a new museum that’s opening May 3 in the filling station hangout of the former “first brother.”

“Billy Carter’s Service Station” in downtown Plains hadn’t changed much since Carter sold it in 1981, until a recent effort by family members and a local organization began to restore the station to its former glory.

“It was a gathering place for farmers,” said Sybil Carter, whose husband also ran the nearby family warehousing business. “During the campaign, a lot of politicians and reporters and news people... they could get the news at that service station.”

Billy Carter, the youngest sibling of former President Jimmy Carter, died from pancreatic cancer in 1988. He was 51.

At her husband’s service station, Sybil Carter said, “They always had something cooking on the grill outside. People could eat, and talk, and they enjoyed it. We’re trying to bring back those memories.”

The museum, located inside the immaculately restored station, will offer a glimpse into the life of Billy Carter, whose public statements sometimes grabbed headlines during his brother’s presidency, 1977-81.

“Over the years, a lot of people understood Billy, but a lot of people didn’t,” Sybil Carter said. “Me and the children wanted people to see all sides of Billy.

“He was a brilliant businessman and a dedicated father. What people read in the newspapers gave them the impression that he was a redneck. Billy was a farmer; he was a businessman; he was an alcoholic. In the last years of his life, he was a recovering alcoholic. He was one of the most compassionate people — he would give you the shirt off his back.”

The Carters’ six children and many old friends, including musicians Tom T. and Dixie Hall, will be on hand for the museum’s opening at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 3.

Of Billy and Sybil Carter’s children — Mandy Flynn of Albany, Buddy Carter of Franklin, Tenn., Marle Usry of Byron and Kim Fuller, Jana Carter and Earl Carter of Plains — four are writers. Buddy Carter wrote a biography of his father titled, “Billy Carter: A Journey Through the Shadows.” Mandy Flynn’s column on family life appears Sundays in The Albany Herald’s SouthView section, and in 2004 she collected her columns into a book titled “Act Like You’ve Got Some Sense.”

“He left behind a wonderful legacy in his children — they’re writers and teachers, and they’re proud of their father,” Sybil Carter said, “and, of course, so am I.

The University of Georgia has designed exhibits from an extensive collection of Billy Carter documents, photos and memorabilia, from the “Billy Beer” he once endorsed to his plantation suit — a long, white coat and pants Carter wore on occasion.

The flamboyant Plains resident’s collection includes a cape Carter, “The Plains Pounder,” wore for a mock boxing match with Joe Frazier and a jacket with a silk-screened painting of Carter’s face in the lining.

Son-in-law Mark Fuller looked over at the museum from his Plains business Friday.

The tightly knit community has been apprehensive about seeing the familiar service station change, Fuller said.

“As far as the station,” he said, “it took me a while to realize — it’s not for people today, it’s for people 100 years from now.

“Billy’s been stereotyped, but there’s a huge side that people have never seen.”

In its remodeled state, the station remains the Billy Carter Service Station of the 1970s, with a few significant differences.

“It’s basically the same, but before, it kind of leaned to the left,” Fuller said.

Once cited by the EPD for the amount of metal debris lying around, the Carter station is tidier than it was in its heyday.

“To make it look like it used to, you’ve got to haul more trash in,” Fuller said.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are active members of Plains Better Hometown, the organization that has for several years raised money and planned the opening of the new museum.

The old oil house at the station, where vehicles were lifted for an oil change, was too unstable to save, but in its place is a new open-air pavilion where locals and visitors can gather in the shade.

The director of Plains Better Hometown, Rachel Murie, said the community is excited about the latest addition in the town that’s home to a former president.

“Everyone that I’ve talked to has been really excited about it opening up again,” Murie said. “Everyone’s real eager to see life breathed back into it.”

The organization is selling $50 engraved bricks to become a part of the museum and will hold on the evening of May 3 its 2nd Golden Peanut Aucton, which was a wildly successful fund raiser in 2006.

The auction drew buyers from around the globe with its offerings of Carter memorabilia and even personal meetings with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.

This year’s auction items include a reception for a small group with the Carters at the Carter Center in Atlanta, she said.

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