Western Pa. wood carver recalls special gifts he made for President Carter and first lady Rosalyn

It’s not every day that a person gets to give a work of art to a former U.S. president and first lady who also were fellow trout anglers, but that is what happened to a member of the Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

With the death of 100-year-old former President Jimmy Carter in January, Rod Cross of Bullskin recalled the time in May 2016 when his carved wooden trout pins were given to Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, when they went fishing in Spruce Creek, a Huntingdon County town about 23 miles from State College.

Cross, an expert wood carver, was living in Chambersburg at the time when he received a request for the pins after Rosalynn Carter had seen one on the hat of Dusty Wiedner, their personal fishing guide and friend at Spruce Creek. Cross said that Rosalynn asked Wiedner where she could buy a set of pins for her and the president. Wiedner replied that they were never for sale, only given, and he would ask Cross to make pins for the Carters.

Cross said he uses cherry wood for his carvings because it has a tight grain for intricate details and takes well to finishing. He uses a power tool to rough out a pattern from the blank of about 2 inches long, then uses a knife to do the carving. The finished product — in the likeness of a trout — is about 1½ inches long and can be worn on a vest or hat.

“It can take whatever time I give it,” Cross said, adding that he had three months to make the pins for the Carters. “It truly was the most important project I have ever had and will probably ever have. They (trout pins) are a labor love.”

Cross said he did not get to present the pins to the former president and his wife, who were under Secret Service protection, but gave them to Wiedner at a church in Spruce Creek. Cross’ pins were then presented to the Carters at a farm owned by their friend.

“Dusty told me that she (Rosalynn) was so pleased with the pins that she put hers on her hat right away. I got a handwritten, thank-you from them,” and a picture of the Carters on a wooden bridge over a creek, Cross said.

An educator-tour guide at Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Fayette County, Cross said he met a woman wearing a Carter Center T-shirt a few years ago. She said she worked for the Carter Center “in a way,” because she was Becky Carter, wife of President Carter’s son, Chip.

“After the tour, I talked to her and told her how much I admired her in-laws and related my little story to her. She told me that she saw the carvings and thought they were beautiful,” Cross said.

“I may be dreaming here, but I like to think that they may be in the Carter Presidential Museum if they display their fishing tackle,” Cross said.