Residents preparing to offer farewells to Carter
PLAINS, Ga. — To folks outside of Jimmy Carter's beloved hometown, he's the famed peanut farmer-turned politician who is the longest-living president in U.S. history. But the people of Plains know him as something else: the neighbor and friend they simply call “Mr. Jimmy.”
About everyone in this town of hardly 500 people has a story about Carter, who was born and raised in this southwest Georgia community, and is preparing to spend his final days in hospice at the humble home he has shared here with wife Rosalynn since 1961.
“To me, he's a friend. To a lot of us here, he's just a churchgoer that sits on the same pews,” said Zac Steele, one of the lay leaders of Maranatha Baptist Church, the congregation where Carter long taught Sunday school lessons until his health declined.
Carter, 98, had decided against further medical treatment, the Carter Center said Saturday. The center did not elaborate on the former president's condition. At 98 years old, he is the longest-living American president, having served as the 39th U.S. president from 1977 to 1981.
For the last half-century, the people of Plains have loved to tell visitors they have a pair of famous exports: peanuts and a peanut farmer-turned-president.
His regular Sunday school lessons at Maranatha brought visitors from across the planet — some who camped out for nights in the church parking lot to assure themselves a place in the pews. Afterward, he delighted in snapping pictures with his visitors.
“He's part of the fabric of the community. And he immerses himself here. He and Rosalynn are omnipresent in this town,” said Evan Kutzler, a history professor who met the Carters shortly after moving to Plains in 2015.
At Maranatha on Sunday, congregants tried to come to terms with the impending farewell.
Jan Williams once helped coordinate the hundreds of visitors who flocked to the small church each weekend that Carter planned a lesson. Now, she's readying to say an inevitable goodbye to a friend who also happens to be a former president.
“If you were his friend, you were so blessed. And if he were your friend, it was a greater blessing. There's nothing bad about the man that I could ever say. He cared about the people of Plains tremendously.”
She knew this day was coming, but it doesn't make it easier. The church choir, she said, has been preparing to sing a hymn called “The Best” for weeks. She wishes it was ready for this Sunday.
“Because I certainly think President Carter has given his best.”
Carter received words of appreciation and comfort from President Joe Biden and a host of other federal officials over the weekend.
In a statement released Sunday afternoon and also posted on Twitter, Biden said he was praying for Carter and Rosalynn.
“To our friends Jimmy and Rosalynn and to their family — Jill and I are with you in prayer and send you our love,” Biden said in the statement. “We admire you for the strength and humility you have shown in difficult times. May you continue your journey with grace and dignity, and God grant you peace.”