Rosalynn Carter remembered: Jimmy love letter to Rosalynn 75 years ago
Amy Carter, Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter’s daughter, shared an emotional love letter Jimmy wrote to Rosalynn 75 years ago while he was in the Navy.
PLAINS, Ga. — Former first lady Rosalynn Carter will be honored by her loved ones and laid to rest on Wednesday in her longtime home of Plains, Georgia.
Rosalynn Carter will be honored in a service at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Jimmy Carter and the former first lady worshipped. She will be interned at the Carter family home in Plains.
Amber Roessner, a professor at the University of Tennessee who has written extensively on the Carters, previously told USA TODAY, “I don’t think you can stress the significance of Plains enough.”
“In addition to it being home, it was such an nourishing and regenerating space for them where they could find themselves in these key moments of their lives,” Roessner said.
The funeral comes a day after Carter’s tribute service in Atlanta, which was attended by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary Hillary Clinton, as well as other former first ladies: Laura Bush, Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.
Nation: Plains, Georgia, remembers former first lady Rosalynn Carter: The ‘Steel Magnolia’
Mourners begin arriving in Plains
The rural town of Plains, Ga., pop. 600, was astir early Wednesday with law enforcement, volunteers and news reporters ahead of the funeral and burial service of former first lady Rosalynn Carter.Traffic cones and metal barriers lined the streets throughout downtown Plains and those leading to the Maranatha Baptist Church, where a service for family and friends is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.
Mourners began arriving at the church at about 8:30 a.m. They were picked up from the Plains welcome center by charter buses.The farming town’s main roads will be closed ahead of the service and final farewell on Main Street, where people can watch as Rosalynn Carter’s motorcade heads from the church to the Carter Home and Garden, part of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park.Rosalynn Carter will be laid to rest outside the modest ranch-style home she’s shared with Jimmy Carter since they had it built in 1961.The Carters were a fixture at the church since they returned to Plains after leaving the White House in 1981. Jimmy Carter’s Sunday school classes drew visitors from across the country, and Rosalynn Carter, a deacon, who also taught Sunday school, helped start the church’s food drive, which now feeds hundreds of families each month. The former first lady participated in the charity event into her 90s.
‘What a remarkable woman she was’
At Tuesday’s service, Rosalynn Carter’s family, friends and colleagues honored her decades-long dedication to global humanitarian work. They celebrated her fight for mental health care and push for women’s rights around the world. The former first lady’s loved ones also highlighted her work via The Carter Center as she advocated for peace efforts, health programs and more.
Rosalynn Carter’s longtime aide and friend Kathryn Cade told the audience at the memorial “What a remarkable woman she was: Wife, mother, business manager, political strategist, diplomat, advocate, author. Yet what I remember most about her was her tireless dedication to taking care of others.”
Speakers also shared personal memories of the former first lady. Jason Carter, the Carters’ grandson, told the audience at the service that his family has recently reflected on a flight they took together.
As they sat in the plane, Jason Carter said, “my grandmother took out this Tupperware of pimento cheese and this loaf of bread, and she just started making sandwiches.”
“She gave it to all of us grandkids everyone else, and then she just started giving them to other people on the plane,” Carter added. “And people were sitting there like ‘Rosalynn Carter just made me the sandwich, you know?’ They couldn’t believe it, but she loved people.”
‘It’s hard when you know them’
In Plains on Tuesday, residents and guests prepared to welcome the former first lady, humanitarian and activist to her home.
Inside the auditorium of Plains High School, where Rosalynn Carter graduated as a valedictorian in 1944, about a dozen people – mostly national park service workers – watched the memorial service for the former first lady. After each speaker, they clapped along with the crowd in Atlanta.
Joan and Dave Vogt on Tuesday watched the tribute service for Rosalynn Carter in the auditorium. They stopped in the Carters’ hometown on their way from Illinois to Sarasota, Florida, for a family vacation. “It felt very intimate,” Joan Vogt said of being in the former first lady’s high school and watching the memorial service. She met Rosalynn Carter once on the campus of Goshen College, a liberal arts college in Indiana. Rosalynn Carter was there campaigning for her husband, who was running for president at the time.
In another part of Plains, Ramona Kurland explained that she knew the former first lady and former president for about 30 years through the political memorabilia shop she owns with her husband in the Georgia town. While greeting customers, she watched a live stream on her phone of Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service. She pointed out each member of the Carter family as they appeared on screen. After a speech from James “Chip” Carter, she wiped her cheek. “It’s hard when you know them,” she said.
Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
