Carter remembers founder of Habitat

ATLANTA --- Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller had a knack for connecting big shots with people in need as he created a legacy of charitable works building homes around the world, former President Carter said at a memorial service Saturday.

Mr. Fuller, who died last month at age 74, convinced Mr. Carter to be one of his most high-profile volunteers after Mr. Carter lost the 1980 election. Together, they traveled from Atlanta to the Philippines and many places in between building homes.

Saturday's service was held at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached from 1960 until his death in 1968. Mr. Fuller's legacy was intertwined with Dr. King's, because both worked on behalf of the poor, Mr. Carter said.

"I'm here to represent many volunteers," he said. "It's kind of presumptuous of me to say that. Our lives were transformed by our relationship with Millard Fuller."

A millionaire by the time he was 30, Mr. Fuller gave up his fortune and invested his life in Habitat for Humanity, which he co-founded with his wife, Linda, in 1976 in a tiny house that doubled as Mr. Fuller's law office. Over the years, Habitat grew to a worldwide network that has provided shelter to more than 1.5 million people.

When his presidency was coming to an end, Mr. Carter, of Plains, Ga., had not heard of Mr. Fuller. But that changed after he saw a newspaper in which Mr. Fuller criticized him for being "inattentive to the needs of the poor," Mr. Carter said at the service.

Mr. Carter said he and his wife, Rosalynn, soon learned about Habitat for Humanity and the Fullers and decided to meet with them at their home. Mr. Carter said he figured he would politely turn down the Fullers' request for his help in their cause because he was busy with other work.

At the sit-down, Mr. Carter said, Mr. Fuller had a legal pad with 32 things on it he wanted Mr. Carter to do.

"Eventually, we decided to do all of them," Mr. Carter said to laughter from the crowd.

"Millard goes to bed with inspirations, we go to bed with nightmares about what we need to do to carry out his vision," Mr. Carter joked.

Mr. Fuller died Feb. 3 near his south Georgia home after suffering from chest pains, headache and difficulty swallowing. He and his wife were planning to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in August with a 100-house worldwide "blitz build." Those plans will likely go forward without him.