Former President Jimmy Carter sat front row at his wife Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service in Atlanta. It is one of the only times Carter has appeared publicly since he entered hospice care in February 2023.
Carter did not speak at the service. He sat, reclined in a wheelchair draped in a blanket, listening to the scripture, music, and loving remembrances of his wife.
The Carters were married for 77 years before the former first lady died on Nov. 19.
A host of dignitaries
The tribute service was held at Glenn Memorial Church on Emory University’s Campus. Every living first lady of the United States attended the funeral, as well as President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp were also among the dignitaries present for the invitation-only service.
Carter’s longtime assistant, Kathryn Cade, recalled the former first lady’s many humanitarian causes and missions around the world.
Journalist Judy Woodruff said, “Without Rosalynn Carter, I don’t believe there would have been a President Carter.”
Woodruff covered the Carters during their White House years. Addressing the 39th president, Woodruff added, “She and the two of you set an example for all of us. And I agree with my friend Jim Fallows who wrote, ‘Her memory will be a blessing. Her influence on the world will be her monument.’ Because of Rosalynn Carter, millions of lives are better off. What a gift she left.”
Heartwarming insights
Although Carter’s public image has been extensively documented, it is the private moments her family shared that provided some of the most heartwarming insights into her life.
“My mother was the glue that held our family together. Through the ups and downs and thicks and thins of our family’s politics, as individuals, she believed in us and took care of us,” said son James Earl “Chip” Carter II.
Chip Carter spoke of his mother’s gentle compassion and determined strength.
“When I was 14, I supported President Johnson for president, and every day I wore a Johnson sticker on my shirt. And periodically, I would get beat up, and my shirt torn, and the buttons pulled off, and my sticker always destroyed. And I would walk the block during lunch from school down to Carter’s Warehouse, and my mother would have a shirt in a drawer already mended, buttons sewn on, and the LBJ sticker still applied. Years later, she was influential in getting me into rehab for my drug and alcohol addiction. She saved my life.”
Speaking on behalf of her father, Amy Carter read aloud a love letter he wrote to her mother 75 years ago while he was serving in the Navy: “My darling, every time I have ever been away from you, I have been thrilled when I returned to discover just how wonderful you are. While I am away, I try to convince myself that you really are not, could not, be as sweet and beautiful as I remember. But when I see you, I fall in love with you all over again. Does that seem strange to you? It doesn’t to me. Goodbye darling, until tomorrow, Jimmy.”
‘Her life was her sermon’
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus celebrated Carter’s life in song, with traditional Baptist hymns. Country music stars and husband and wife Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks also paid tribute, singing “Imagine” by John Lennon.
Throughout the service, Carter’s great-grandchildren shared her favorite scriptures from the Bible.
Rosalynn Carter’s love for her husband and commitment to her faith were two of the
cornerstones that defined her character and guided her throughout her life. These fundamental aspects of Rosalynn Carter’s identity not only shaped her role as a devoted spouse but also fueled her unwavering dedication to humanitarian causes and social justice initiatives.
Grandson Jason Carter opened his remarks by saying his grandmother did not need a eulogy “because her life was a sermon.”
As the service drew to a close, congregants joined together in singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”
Following the service, Carter’s body was transported back to her hometown of Plains where on Wednesday, the family will hold a private funeral service and burial.
