Former US First Lady and well-known humanitarian Rosalynn Carter, a significant player in US politics, passed away. As of 1946, she and Jimmy Carter were the longest-married presidential couple in US history, having been wed for 77 years.
In a rare public appearance, 99-year-old Jimmy Carter, the former US President, attended a memorial service in Atlanta for his late wife, Rosalynn Carter, who passed away. Carter appeared frail. Jimmy Carter entered hospice care in February. In a wheelchair, he walked into the Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church, dressed in a black suit and tie. He was led to the front row, where he sat with his children on either side of his wife’s flower-draped coffin.
Folded over his lap was a blue-and-white blanket with an embroidered smiling portrait of his wife. Their marriage lasted for 77 years.
As first lady from 1977 to 1981, Rosalynn Carter played a crucial role in President Carter’s administration and supported him in his humanitarian endeavors even after they left the White House. She died at the age of 96.
Jimmy Carter avoided talking to the mourners throughout the event. James Earl “Chip” Carter III, his son, kissed his father on the forehead after paying tribute to Rosalynn Carter and calling her “the glue” that held the family together.
Nine months ago, the former president decided to enter hospice care at his Plains, Georgia, home and cease receiving medical treatment. The former president has struggled with several medical issues, such as cancer. His wife, who had been diagnosed with dementia, joined him in hospice care just a few days before she passed away.
The Carters were the longest-married US presidential pair, having tied the knot in 1946 at the ages of 21 and 18. At the funeral, Jimmy Carter’s daughter Amy delivered a line from a letter dad sent to Rosalynn while serving in the Navy.
The Carters’ last public event together was in September, when they attended their little rural town’s Plains Peanut Festival. They were both wearing shirts with the insignia of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organisation that the couple has long supported and which focuses on delivering affordable homes.