EVER-DEVOTED JIMMY
Can't keep him from Rosalynn service
Ailing former President Jimmy Carter didn’t miss late wife Rosalynn’s memorial service Tuesday, despite being confined to a wheelchair for the occasion.
The 39th president, 99, was wheeled to his place in the front row at Glenn Memorial Church on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta, alongside guests of honor including President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
Jimmy Carter’s custom-made suit tailored for the occasion was covered by a blanket bearing a picture of his late wife, to whom he had been married for 77 years.
“He’s coming to the end, and he’s very, very physically diminished,” his grandson Jason Carter told The New York Times before the service. “But I think he was proud and happy that he was there for her ’til the very end, and he wasn’t going to miss this for anything.”
Jason added that his grandfather “has been this moral rock for so many people,” but Rosalynn, who died Nov. 19 at the age of 96, “really was the rock for him. We’re all worried about him.”
The former president, who is 10 months into home hospice care and had not been seen in public since September, stayed Monday night at the Carter Center, CEO Paige Alexander said, steps from where the former first lady lay in repose.
“He never wants to be very far from her,” she said, adding: “He had a good night. He’s rested.”
She admitted the trip was “hard,” but said, “This is her last trip up and it’s probably his, too . . . He’s determined.”
The service was also attended by every other living former first lady — Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and former President Bill Clinton also attended.
“Secretary Clinton and Dr. Biden, we also welcome your lovely husbands,” Jason Carter quipped at one point in his remarks.
Former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump were invited, but did not attend.
None of the high-profile political attendees spoke at the ceremony, which featured classical music and beloved hymns, as well as readings from some of Rosalynn’s favorite Bible passages.
In their remarks, the Carter children recounted the former first lady’s outsize influence during her husband’s administration.
“Mom had so many questions that he finally said that she should attend Cabinet meetings,” recalled son Chip.
“I will always . . . cherish how she and Dad raised their children.”
Amy Lynn Carter teared up reading a letter that the former president sent to her mother while he was in the Navy.
“While I am away, I tried 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,” she read.