I was privileged to become acquainted with President Carter's personal executive secretary, Susan Clough, while she and my father resided at Louisville's Treyton Oak Towers.
When my Dad introduced Susan to me as Jimmy Carter's secretary, I was skeptical. Returning to his apartment, I checked sources and confirmed that Susan had not only worked with Carter in his four years in the White House, but during his tenure as Georgia's governor. The President had summoned Susan, a divorced mother of two, to Washington to serve in his administration.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1977/11/06/peach-frost…
https://search.app/KcXKsoCo9WC5cVE99
Susan was genuine, engaging, and open to my endless questions about the President and her experiences in the White House. To my great joy, she embraced my increasingly lonely Dad as a friend and equal in spirited discussion and debate. They complimented each other in a unique way.
As my Dad's health declined, he required hospitalization and higher levels of personal care at Treyton Oak. Susan regularly reached out to express concern for him and support for me. Her hugs and encouraging words were a comfort to both of us.
I anticipated my Dad's death much like the nation anticipated President Carter's death -- an equally dreaded but desired inevitability. When death came for my Dad on a cold Sunday afternoon in January, grief interrupted my plan to reach out to the handful of Treyton Oak residents and employees who had become our friends to share the news.
A few days after my Dad's death, I called the front desk at Treyton Oak to ask to speak with Susan. The person on the other end of the phone explained to me that Susan was dead. She had died one week before my Dad.
Her obituary offered additional insight into the woman my Dad and I came to know under the most extraordinary circumstances:
"She was an integral part of the [Carter] administration and contributed in many ways, apparent to those who read the Camp David Accords. Susan was keenly intelligent. She was humble, dedicated, and tireless. She valued everyone she met, from waiters, servers and secretaries to kings, prime ministers and ambassadors. She expected the same from all and gave the same to all—honesty and respect."
https://search.app/VxyhvP3n2XbMcGRD7
That shared commitment to service, love of country, and egalitarianism bound Susan and my Dad in a late life, and all too brief, friendship.
This excerpt from a Carter interview should eliminate any lingering doubt about Susan's contributions and her remarkable role in history:
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19gkPUkRyd/?mibextid=wwXIfr
One week to the day after Susan's death, death came for my Dad. Just shy of one year to the day after Susan's death, it came for President Carter.
Three lives -- that oddly intersected -- well lived.
