by Hundreds of Americans of all ages flocked to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta to pay their respects to Rosalynn Carter, who lay in repose Monday night.
Many of those who came to say goodbye to the former first lady paused briefly in front of her wooden casket, which was covered with a bouquet of colorful flowers and guarded by two members of the Georgia State Patrol. The public repose was scheduled to last until 10:00 p.m.
Hours earlier, many other Georgians lined state highways as Rosalynn Carter’s motorcade headed toward Atlanta from her small hometown of Plains in southwest Georgia.
The public repose began after a brief ceremony during which the Carter family and staff members of the Carter Center and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum paid their respects, one of several ceremonies planned through Wednesday to honor the life and legacy by Rosalynn Carter.
He died peacefully at his Plains home on Nov. 19, at the age of 96, two days after the Carter Center announced he would be entering hospice care at home. A tireless advocate for mental health reform and the destigmatization of mental illness, Rosalynn Carter spent most of her life dedicated to humanitarian efforts, always at the side of her husband of more than 77 years, former US President Jimmy Sump. In May, the Carter Center said Rosalynn Carter had dementia.
The couple had returned to their home in Plains, about 120 miles south of Atlanta, after leaving the White House in 1981 and had lived there since. Jimmy Carter, 99, began receiving home palliative care in February after a series of hospitalizations.
People from across the state (and across the country) headed to Plains last week to celebrate the life and legacy of Rosalynn Carter as the city of several hundred people prepared to say goodbye.
“She gave a lot back to the community, to our world,” Georgia resident Andy Huggins told CNN last week. “I felt the need to stop by here one more time, simply to be in the presence of her spirit. She was a beautiful person.”
The Carters’ last public appearance was on September 23, when they took a stroll through the Plains Peanut Festival. Jimmy Carter is expected to attend his wife’s funeral in Atlanta on Tuesday, according to his grandson Jason Carter.
The ceremonies began on Monday
Rosalynn Carter’s motorcade left downtown Plains at 10 a.m. Monday and traveled through the nearby town of Americus.
The motorcade made a brief stop at a medical center, where former and current members of the U.S. Secret Service Protection detail were serving. escorted the hearse, according to the Carter Center, the nonprofit organization the Carters founded.
And in one of the first official celebrations of the former first lady’s death, two wreaths were placed Monday morning near a bronze statue of Rosalynn Carter on the campus of her alma mater, Georgia Southwestern State University. . The statue depicts the former first lady sitting on a bench, holding her book, “First Lady of the Plains.”
Hundreds of people gathered for that service, the university saying.
University President Neal Weaver and Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers Executive Director Jennifer Olsen placed the wreaths on opposite sides of the statue. The former first lady founded the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers on the school’s campus in 1987, and the organization has since supported and advocated for “tens of millions of Americans to provide unpaid care for their loved ones,” the school said.
“She leaves us a legacy that we must strive to fulfill,” Weaver said. She praised “the way she related to people, she saw humanity as something really positive and she wanted people to be successful and she wanted to invest in their lives.”
He said she was a “regular” at Georgia Southwestern State University before the Covid-19 pandemic and that students had the opportunity to be “right next to her, working with her and getting to know her.”
Members of the Carter family traveling with the caravan briefly got off the bus to shake hands with participants.
“We will always remember his incredible accomplishments and dedication to service, and we will continue to build on his legacy of advocacy,” the school said. said in a statement last week. “We will never forget what she means to this university.”
The tribute will be held on Tuesday
A private memorial service is scheduled to be held Tuesday at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church on the campus of Emory University, with guests including President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris and the second gentleman are also expected to attend.
A private funeral service for invited family and friends will be held Wednesday morning at the couple’s beloved Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.
“Rosalynn Carter’s deep compassion for people around the world and her tireless strength on their behalf touched lives around the world. “We have heard from thousands of you since her passing,” her family said in a statement last week. “Thank you all for joining us in celebrating the treasure she was, not just to us, but to all of humanity.”
The Carter Center said in lieu of flowers, donations will be made to the Carter Center Mental Health Program or the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers. Additionally, people can share their memories of the former first lady on a website created to honor her.
CNN’s Jaide Timm-Garcia, Devon Sayers and Eva McKend contributed to this report.
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