With her frail husband as a silent witness, Rosalynn Carter was celebrated by her family and closest friends Wednesday at her funeral in the same tiny town where she and Jimmy Carter were born, forever their home base as they climbed to the White House and traveled the world for humanitarian causes.
Quick Read
- Rosalynn Carter’s Funeral: Held in her and Jimmy Carter’s birthplace, Plains, Georgia, Rosalynn Carter’s funeral was a gathering of family and close friends.
- Jimmy Carter’s Presence: Former President Jimmy Carter attended the funeral in his wheelchair, marking a poignant moment at the service.
- Service at Maranatha Baptist Church: The funeral took place at Maranatha Baptist Church, a significant location for the Carters, where Jimmy Carter had contributed a handmade wooden cross.
- Pastor Tony Lowden’s Tribute: The service began with a tribute by Maranatha Pastor Tony Lowden, who celebrated Rosalynn Carter as a globally impactful first lady.
- Shared Grave Site: Rosalynn Carter will be buried in a plot that will eventually also be the resting place of her husband, marking their 77-year marriage.
- Community Participation: Plains native Vernita Sampson and local students paid their respects, highlighting the Carters’ relatability and community impact.
- Family Remembrances: Son Jack Carter and grandson Jason Carter shared affectionate and humorous stories about Rosalynn Carter, emphasizing her role as a strong partner and influential figure.
- Rosalynn Carter’s Life Journey: From a small-town upbringing to global humanitarian efforts, Rosalynn Carter’s life was celebrated for its far-reaching impact.
- Atlanta Memorials: Prior events in Atlanta, including a service at Glenn Memorial Church, commemorated Rosalynn Carter’s achievements with notable attendees, including President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton.
- Simple Life in Plains: The funeral in Plains highlighted the Carters’ simpler life in their small town, contrasting with the grander events in Atlanta.
- Jimmy and Rosalynn’s Lifelong Bond: The funeral procession passed significant locations in Plains, reflecting on the couple’s life together from high school to the presidency and their enduring partnership.
The Associated Press has the story:
Rosalynn Carter’s intimate funeral is held in her home town in Georgia
Newslooks- PLAINS, Ga. (AP)
With her frail husband as a silent witness, Rosalynn Carter was celebrated by her family and closest friends Wednesday at her funeral in the same tiny town where she and Jimmy Carter were born, forever their home base as they climbed to the White House and traveled the world for humanitarian causes.
The former first lady, who died Nov. 19 at the age of 96, had her intimate funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where she and her husband spent decades welcoming guests and where a wooden cross Jimmy Carter fashioned in his woodshop is displayed. Earlier tributes were held in nearby Americus and in Atlanta.
The former president was in attendance in his wheelchair, with her one last time in his life.
Maranatha Pastor Tony Lowden opened the service with a tribute to “the life and legacy of the greatest first lady.”
Rosalynn Carter wasn’t “just the first lady of the White House,” he told the gathering. “She served every nation around the world.”
She will be buried in a plot she will one day share with her husband of 77 years. The former president, now 99, left home hospice care to attend Tuesday’s memorial, where two other presidents and all the living first ladies joined the extended Carter family before Wednesday’s more intimate hometown funeral.
Vernita Sampson, a school bus driver and Plains native, drove a group of area high school students, all wearing Future Farmer of America jackets, to downtown Plains to pay tribute to the former first lady and soak up the history of the day.
“They were people you could relate to, not this high standard where they were up here and, you know, we’re all down there,” said Sampson, 58. “We never get used to death, no matter who we are or how long you have lived,”′ but she said she and the students came “to celebrate that she did live a long life, a very happy and productive life, that gives you joy.”
At the service, the mourning came with affectionate stories of life with Rosalynn Carter and some laughs.
“It occurs to me that dad got used to mom disagreeing with him because she was really good at it,” son Jack Carter said. “And she became a partner in the true sense of the word, where they had equal footing.”
Jimmy Carter met his future wife only a few days after her mother delivered her.
“She was born just a few years after women got the right to vote in this small town in the South where people were still plowing their fields behind mules,” grandson Jason Carter said during the memorial service Tuesday at Atlanta’s Glenn Memorial Church.
Coming from that town of about 600 — then and now — Rosalynn Carter changed lives across America and the developing world, her grandson said. Jimmy Carter’s closest political adviser and a political force in her own right, she advocated for better mental health care and underappreciated caregivers in millions of U.S. households. Traveling overseas, she fought disease, famine and the abuse of women and girls.
Even so, she never stopped being the small-town Southerner whose cooking repertoire leaned heavily on mayonnaise and pimento cheese, Jason Carter said as he told endearing stories about his grandmother.
The Atlanta events reflected the grandest chapters of Rosalynn Carter’s life. Mourners viewed her casket steps from The Carter Center she and her husband co-founded after leaving the White House, then she was honored at a service filled with the music of a symphony chorus, a majestic pipe organ and fellow Habitat for Humanity ambassadors Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton and the first ladies joined Jimmy Carter and their four children in the front row.
The proceedings Wednesday underscored the simpler constants in Rosalynn Carter’s life. The sanctuary in Plains seats fewer people than the balcony at Glenn Memorial in Atlanta. Maranatha, tucked away at the edge of Plains where the town gives way to cotton fields, has no powerful organ; instead the cross he made and offering plates he turned on his lathe.
Church members, who were included in the invitation-only ceremony, rarely talk of ”President Carter” or “Mrs. Carter.” They are supporting “Mr. Jimmy” as he grieves for “Ms. Rosalynn.”
Lowden, the Carters’ longtime friend and personal minister, also officiated Tuesday, emphasizing that Rosalynn Carter’s work, from the Georgia statehouse when Jimmy Carter was governor to the 120-plus countries that she visited, was an extension of her faith.
“Oh, how she loved J.C. — Jimmy Carter. I also have to tell you that she loved J.C. — Jesus Christ,” Lowden said, recalling how she read the Bible in English and Spanish and took seriously the New Testament teaching that “faith without works is dead.”
“When she read the word of God, it went to her head, and then it went to her heart” and then into action, Lowden said. ”From her head to her heart to her hands, and she made it a habit. If you love our first lady who was global, make it a habit. Take your passion and make it a habit. Link your passion up with compassion. Then there will be peace. Then there will be love.”
Barricades were set up along the route for the public to pay their respects.
The motorcade carried Rosalynn Carter from Marantha for the last time through the town where she lived for more than 80 of her 96 years, passing holiday lights and decorations including a photo collage in front of the downtown tree featuring the “First Lady of Plains.”
Her casket passed the old high school where she was valedictorian during World War II and Plains Baptist Church where she and the former president were once outliers arguing for racial integration. The motorcade then snaked through the commercial district where she became Jimmy’s indispensable partner in their peanut business, the old train depot where she helped run the winning 1976 presidential campaign, and Plains Methodist Church where she married young Navy Lt. Jimmy Carter at the age of 18, in 1946.
It will return, finally, to what locals call “the Carter compound,” property that includes their one-story ranch house, the pond where she fished and security outposts for the Secret Service agents who protected her for 47 years.
She will be buried in view of the front porch of the home where the 39th American president still lives.
