Final farewell for ‘remarkable woman’
Rosalynn Carter laid to rest in Ga. hometown
PLAINS, Ga. – Former first lady Rosalynn Carter was honored by her loved ones and laid to rest Wednesday in her longtime home of Plains, Georgia.
The rural town of 600 was astir with law enforcement, volunteers and news reporters in the early morning. Traffic cones and metal barriers lined the streets leading to the Maranatha Baptist Church, where Jimmy Carter and the former first lady worshipped.
Mourners, picked up from the Plains welcome center by charter buses, began arriving at the church hours before the funeral began.
Rosalynn Carter’s funeral came one day after a tribute service in Atlanta that was attended by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden; former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and former first ladies Laura Bush, Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.
Loved ones wore leis
President Jimmy Carter wore a red lei at Wednesday’s service. Other family members wore leis too, as well as Hawaiian shirts. The Carters spent time in Hawaii when Jimmy Carter was in the Navy. Rosalynn Carter was often photographed wearing carnation leis on prominent days of her husband’s presidential campaign.
The Carters’ son, Jack, spoke during the service, as did their grandson Josh Carter, who spoke on behalf of his father, Jeff Carter, the Carters’ youngest son.
The memorial also included Scripture readings by three of Rosalynn Carter’s great-grandchildren; a eulogy delivered by the Rev. Tony Lowden; and music provided by vocalist Joanna Maddox, pianist David Osborne, the Georgia Southwestern State University Concert Choir and the Southwest Civic Chorus.
Lomgtime friend Betty Moss said the service was “as wonderful as Rosalynn.”
‘She’ll tell you don’t stop’
Lowden began his eulogy by remarking that it seems nobody “has anything bad to say about Rosalynn Carter.”
“Not one word. Not a news article,” the pastor said. “Not even one person on the left or anybody on the right.”
“I believe the reason why is because she did not worship the donkey or the elephant,” he said. “She worshiped the lamb.”
He said “her family, her friends, her neighbors all knew her to be someone who did not think of herself but rather others and others’ needs.
“Her care and concern for those around her defined her and left the most remarkable impression upon our hearts and memories, as we remember her today.”
Lowden ended his comments with a call to action for Carter’s loved ones to carry on her lifetime of service.
“She’ll tell you don’t stop. There’s still too many homeless people in the world. There’s too many people that still don’t have equal rights. There’s still too many people who suffer from mental illness. There’s still too many people that look at the color of her skin. She’ll tell you don’t stop,” he said.
Matriarch and global humanitarian
Josh Carter called his grandmother “kind, loving and caring,” telling those gathered at the funeral service that she “was happiest whenever there was a new baby” in the Carter family.
“Every time we had a new baby in the family, she could not wait to play with them. And she did play, in the same Carter Center boardroom where my grandparents would host presidents and other world leaders,” Carter said, adding that she “would get on the floor and chase babies and play peekaboo.”
But he also reflected on the moments that moved her as she advocated for critical causes around the world.
“She would tell us about the astounded joy on people’s faces when they learned that something as simple as education and a filter cloth would rid the entire village of guinea worm,” he said.
‘Somebody that you could trust’
Jack Carter spoke about how his parents worked together throughout their lives, saying “she became a partner in a true sense of the word where they had equal footing.”
But he also remembered her independence.
“She was also good with numbers and thought that it wasn’t right to pay the CPA because she was never wrong on the numbers,” he said, prompting laughter from many.
Recalling a time when he tried to bake a cake for his family but accidentally set it on fire, he said, “She was also somebody that you could trust when things got out of hand.”
‘She was unreal’
Three students from Dooly County High School drove 40 minutes from Vienna, Georgia, to attend Carter’s funeral service. They all belong to Future Farmers of America, a youth leadership organization of which Jimmy Carter is a longtime member.
Kaleb Green, 16, said it’s “a great honor” to be in Plains on “such a historic day.”
Green said the Carters’ legacy has inspired him to one day run for president. “If they did it, I can too.”
Roger Teeple, an agriculture teacher for FFA who accompanied the students, praised Rosalynn Carter’s work in nature preservation, especially the habitats she provided for monarch butterflies.
“She was unreal,” he said. “As nice a person as I had ever met.”
Final farewell
The farming town’s main roads were closed during the final farewell along Main Street, where people gathered after the funeral service to watch as Rosalynn Carter’s motorcade headed from the church to the Carter Home and Garden, part of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park.
She was buried in a private ceremony at the Carter family home, a modest ranch-style house she shared with her husband since they had it built in 1961.
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter were married for 77 years. They had four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 greatgrandchildren.