The white-haired man in the plaid work-shirt and the dark-haired one in work boots crouch down over their workspace in a patch of dirt.The elderly man’s hands grip a length of vinyl siding as the young one’s fingers work some snippers. Soon, a perfect gable appears.
Above them, a dozen hammers pound a house into shape, but the father and son don’t need to talk above the noise; they speak in the silent language of family.
“I get a big blessing, more than the people do,” says the father, Harry Burnett.
It’s good that everyone should have a home, they say, which is why they flew from different parts of the country, the father from Arlington, Kan., the son from Kansas City, Mo., to take part in this year’s Jimmy Carter Work Project. Scott used to work in the scheduling office of Carter’s White House. Several years ago he had the idea that he should keep working for the former president.
“He just called me up one evening and asked if I wanted to go work for Habitat,” recalled his father, 78.
Ever since, the two have hardly missed a year, traveling to Eagle Butte, S.D., Plains, Ga., and overseas, in the Philippines and Durban, South Africa. (Scott didn’t make it to the project site in Kentucky).
Several of Scott’s White House buddies still work for Cater, too. It’s like a little reunion, he says.
“I come to see old friends,” he says. “And I’ve gotten to see some new old friends.”
Sitting across from him in a trailer near the site is Lloyd Troyer, and his wife, Loretta, two of their new old friends. The four have worked together since the Burnetts’ first year, in 1994, but the Troyers have been doing it much longer, since 1989. Now, Lloyd is the leader of Carter’s world – as his house supervisor on the site.
“We get to boss Jimmy around for a week,” he says.
The retired construction company owner from Middlebury, Ind., makes advance visits to possible work-project sites. Next year, he will be heading to Mexico City, he says, “I do that for President Carter.”
The Troyers and the former peanut farmer from Plains, Ga., have more reunions, on Thanksgiving. The Carters have a give family, they say.
“Sixteen one year, and 15 the next, and one year, 12,” Loretta says – those are sons, daughters and grandchildren.
“We hit it off,” says Lloyd, a plain-spoken man, when asked how the families have become so close. “We talk the same language.”
