CREEK SPRUCE The late President Jimmy Carter was a friend of a dairy farmer in Huntingdon County who traveled and fly-fished with him.
R. Wayne Harpster stated on Monday that he was a typical good guy. We got along really well for some reason. We became friends.
Carter, 100, passed away on Sunday.
When Harpster was invited to go fishing by a member of the Spruce Creek Rod and Gun Club in 1978, he met Carter.
He claimed that until he was informed that his chopper would be landing in his field, where the corn was roughly a foot high, he was not aware that the president was approaching.
Harpster’s greeting of the then-president with a handshake marked the beginning of a relationship that lasted over 40 years, during which time they traveled, hunted, and fished together.
He remembers that day when the helicopter touched down, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, climbed out with fishing rods. He responded to the president’s question about his occupation and the many types of weeds in the field.
In order for the president and first lady to reach the stream, Harpster volunteered to cut his fence. He suggested they would crawl over it, but Carter wouldn’t let him.
He claimed that because Spruce Creek was high from the previous night’s rain, fishing was not very good that day. He then claimed to have taken a handful of flies to Carter so that the two families might be photographed together.
The next year the fishing improved, and Harpster reported that Carter used a fly he had given him to catch a nice trout. He recalls that the two conversed while sitting on some dead logs. He claimed that they never discussed politics.
On May 29, 1981, R. Wayne Harpster celebrates his 44th birthday while holding a wooden box Jimmy Carter constructed for him.Wayne R. Harpster
Harpster claims that on one of Carter’s first visits, he informed him that he had a cottage if he ever wanted to stay, which he did.
Harpster’s anecdotes about their romance are limitless. He claimed to have been here frequently. Here are several examples:
Then, on October 5, 1980, President Jimmy Carter cuddles Andrew, the Harpster’s son, who was enjoying his fourth birthday.Wayne R. Harpster
Harpster stated, “He kept coming and coming.” Together, we would do stuff. This place truly seemed like home to him. Carter stated he frequently brought his family. He said that his wife was a skilled caster.
Carter documented his exploits for a few days there in an essay titled “Spruce Creek Diary,” which was published in the 1982 edition of Fly Fisherman magazine.
He said his host, Harpster, was one of the best trout fisherman he knew and an excellent dairy farmer.
In Plains, Georgia, R. Wayne Harpster shakes hands with Jimmy Carter. Harpster had no idea when this photo was taken.Wayne R. Harpster
While residing in the White House, Harpster saw that Carter paid him multiple visits, staying for a day or two at one of his cottages.
At one point, Carter, Rosalynn, and their son Chip traveled north of Williamsport to Gray’s Run Rod and Gun Club, where they were invited by the late Don Daughenbaugh.
It was like fishing in the freestone creeks around Camp David, which Carter claimed he had loved.
In Georgia and Pennsylvania, Carter and Harpster also went hunting together. He claimed to have paid Carter four or five visits at his Plains house.
Carter called him in 1981 and asked whether he was interested in visiting China. “I don’t have a passport,” he said. He was informed that we would take care of things.
On the property near Spruce Creek in Centre County, Jimmy Carter and R. Wayne Harpster lean against a fence.Wayne R. Harpster
He traveled to China and Japan with Carter for eighteen days. He claimed to have had the opportunity to walk on the Great Wall and see sights that the typical tourist would not.
Harpster and Carter went fishing in Argentina, Mexico, and Russia, among other places. He claimed that we visited a variety of locations.
Harpster witnessed both Carter’s Nobel Prize acceptance and the 2005 commissioning of the USS Jimmy Carter, a nuclear submarine. The only president suitable for submarines is the Navy veteran.
In addition to attending Rosalynn Carter’s funeral with his wife Marjorie, Harpster expressed his desire to attend Carter’s service in Washington.
Stories by
John Beauge
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