SALISBURY — In Carl “Chip” Short’s law office on North Main Street, there are the photos of his family, with his daughter’s wedding displayed the most prominently. If you were to look for just Short himself, however, there are only two on the wall, a newspaper article from when Rowan-Cabarrus Community College named its atrium after him, and a photo of him shaking hands with former President Jimmy Carter.

Carter died at the age of 100 in late December, and as a national day of mourning approaches on Thursday, Short wanted to share his story about meeting the president in 1980.

“He was soft spoken, and had a genuine smile on his face. He was meeting a lot of people, but he seemed to take a lot of interest in everybody personally. He wanted to be everybody’s friend, and I believed him. It wasn’t plastic at all, it was warm. Even in the picture, and I guess because I’ve been looking at it for 40 years, what’s always struck me most is his general friendliness,” said Short.

Short met both President Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter at the White House, which Short said he was invited to as a “reward” for his support of Carter as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Carter had just defeated challenger Senator Ted Kennedy in the primary and was set to face up against Republican nominee Ronald Reagan in the general election.

Short said that he cannot exactly remember what he and Carter talked about 40 years ago, but that he remembers Carter as a “Southern gentleman,” one who was willing to spend time with everyone invited to the reception and actually learn about them.

“He was such a gentleman. The funny thing is, I’m about a head taller than President Carter. He was built for submarine duty, and I was not. He was just such a Southern gentleman. He would ask questions about me, and I was just a young lawyer at the time, but he took an interest in me,” said Short, who stands about 6 feet, 5 inches.

Carter had served in the United States Navy as a lieutenant junior grade, serving on submarines and planning on working aboard the Navy’s new nuclear submarines before the death of his father from pancreatic cancer forced Carter to return home to Plains, Georgia, to take over the family peanut farms.

The photo of Short shaking hands with the president was taken by a White House photographer, and Short said that he received three copies, one of which was signed. The signed copy was the one that first hung in his office, but a roof leak ruined that copy, so now Short has one of the originals in his office and one in his home.

After the reception with the Carters, Short said that the delegates and other attendees went to a rear balcony and watched the two leave on a helicopter from the rear lawn. While on the balcony, Short met and spoke with a BBC correspondent, who convinced him to do an interview on the front lawn.

“I famously predicted that President Carter would have no trouble in defeating Ronald Reagan in that election. Which, it didn’t happen that way,” said Short.

Carter would lose that election to Reagan, but he would remain involved with U.S. foreign policy after his presidency, meeting with foreign leaders during the upcoming decades. He would also spend time working with nonprofits on building homes for the homeless population, becoming one of the most prominent figures involved with Habitats for Humanity.

Despite that however, Carter left many with a memory of a “Southern gentleman,” one who took the time to speak with and learn about the lives of Salisbury attorneys even when in the middle of a presidential election.