Jimmy Carter saw beauty in aging long before his death: ‘He would say, ‘I have no regrets’

LOS ANGELES () — Fernando Torres-Gil is one of the many people behind many presidents with a specialty that often takes a lifetime to appreciate.

Thanks, in large part, to Jimmy Carter.

“I owe my career to President Jimmy Carter and the First Lady Rosalynn Carter,” said Torres-Gil. “I was 27 years old when they nominated me and appointed me to the Federal Council on Aging.”

Torres-Gil said improving the lives of older Americans was a process Jimmy Carter truly believed in.

“He saw old age not as one segment of life but as a continuation of life,” he said.

Gerontology, the study of the aging process, was just part of the job. Torres-Gil also worked on refugee and immigration affairs, and shortly after the Vietnam War, his leadership was put to the test with a refugee crisis.

“So they said, ‘Well, who’s overseeing those programs? Come on over,’ and I remember sitting there in the White House situation room with the vice president, chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff, all there to make a decision for the president of the United States: Do we save these Vietnamese refugees?”

Torres-Gil said yes.

“That is where the large Vietnamese communities in Orange County, in San Jose, that’s how they grew,” he said.

Carter’s presidential career lasted just one term, but Torres-Gil’s, upon leaving that administration, catapulted. He eventually served in two others: the Clinton and the Obama administrations.

But working for Carter stood out.

“Each one did great things, each one was a fascinating individual, but of the three, the most humble, the most quiet, the most self-effacing was Jimmy Carter,” said Torres-Gil.

Leave it to the expert to speak for the man who gave him a chance, who saw the beauty in aging, long before his time was up.

“He would say, ‘I have no regrets, no one should feel sorry for me, there is no grieving, it’s been a good long life, and I did it my way, and I did it with my values,” said Torres-Gil.