Jimmy Carter gets accolades from far, near

PLAINS, Ga. — Chad Loshbaugh and his seventh-grade son, Theo, were starting a historical tour for their winter break when they heard that former President Jimmy Carter had begun end-of-life care at home.

So the father-son pair from Albany, New York, changed their itinerary and found themselves Wednesday on the Carter family farm in Plains, where the 39th president grew up and about a mile from the one-story house where the 98-year-old now is receiving hospice care.

“This was an add-on,” to a civil rights trip that is taking them from Atlanta through several stops in Alabama, Loshbaugh said. “We thought it was important to change our trip to see the site here and pay our respects to President Carter.”

The longest-lived American president is garnering accolades and well-wishes from across the world as well as from family and friends in his hometown, where he and his wife are known as “Mr. Jimmy” and “Ms. Rosalynn.”

News of Carter’s condition prompted an uptick in visitors to Plains, a town of about 700 with just a few blocks of retail businesses along the railroad tracks that run by Carter’s 1976 presidential headquarters.

Plains residents have always been proud of the Carters’ ascension to the White House, Carter’s niece Kim Fuller said, as well as the couple’s work afterward on public health, conflict resolution and democracy via The Carter Center in Atlanta.

Those accomplishments have drawn plaudits from people such as Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation.

“President Carter’s dedication to making the world a better place has had a lasting impact on countless lives through the Cartercenter,” Suzman tweeted Wednesday. “Thank you Pres. Carter for your decades of leadership, service, & wisdom — the future is brighter because of your work.”