Rosalynn Carter was remembered Tuesday in Atlanta. Her memorial service was attended by President Joe Biden, who flew to Georgia on Tuesday to honor the former first lady, who played a prominent role during her husband Jimmy’s presidency (1977-1981).
The 99-year-old former president, who has terminal cancer and is under the care of a program to alleviate the suffering of the terminally ill at his home in Plains, arrived at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church in a wheelchair. Folded across his lap was a blue and white blanket with an embroidered portrait of Rosaleen.
He died at the age of 96 on November 19. Jimmy Carter sat in the first two rows with President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden; Vice President Kamala Harris; former President Bill Clinton and former first ladies Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush
Jimmy Carter called Rosalynn his “equal partner in everything I have accomplished.” As First Lady, she was often invited as an observer to cabinet meetings and political strategy discussions.
“Mom was always very aware of the issues of the day,” Carter’s son, James Earl Carter III, told the crowd, describing his association with Jimmy Carter during his presidency. -At the White House, Mom asked so many questions that she finally said that she should attend cabinet meetings. And she did it and received a lot of criticism for it.”
“Relieving suffering has been an integral part of Rosaleen’s life for as long as I have known her,” said Katherine Cade, a longtime aide and friend of the deceased.
Cade described the former first lady’s work to eradicate Guinea worm disease from West Africa, preventing the loss of monarch butterfly habitat, and her decades-long advocacy for women’s mental health and equality.
The former first lady died shortly after being admitted to hospice care at her home in Plains, Georgia. In May, her family announced that she had been diagnosed with dementia. Her funeral is scheduled for Wednesday at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, followed by burial in the family plot.
His body was placed on display Monday at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta.
Carter and her husband were the longest-serving married presidential couple in the United States, marrying in 1946, when he was 21 and she was 18. Since ending his single term as president, Jimmy Carter has lived more post-presidential years than any president before him, and Rosalynn played an important role during these years, creating the nonprofit Carter Center and the charity Habitat for Humanity.
