PLAINS, Ga. — Former first lady Rosalynn Carter was honored by her loved ones and laid to rest on Wednesday in her longtime home of Plains, Georgia.
Rosalynn Carter's funeral service was held at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Jimmy Carter and the former first lady worshipped.
Amber Roessner, a professor at the University of Tennessee who has written extensively on the Carters, previously told USA TODAY, "I don't think you can stress the significance of Plains enough."
"In addition to it being home, it was such an nourishing and regenerating space for them where they could find themselves in these key moments of their lives," Roessner said.
The funeral comes a day after Carter’s tribute service in Atlanta, which was attended by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary Hillary Clinton, as well as other former first ladies: Laura Bush, Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.
Motorcade travels through Plains
As the former first lady's motorcade passed through downtown Plains, family and friends of Rosalynn Carter got out and walked behind the hearse carrying Rosalynn Carter’s casket.They moved slowly along streets lined with Plains residents and others waving goodbye to Rosalynn Carter and embracing her family as they walked by the crowds.“It was very emotional,” said Jack Bacon, who has worked with the Carter Center for over 30 years. He traveled from Reno, Nevada, to Georgia for the week’s memorial services.Bacon said the sight reminded him of when Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter walked more than a mile down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day 1977 – the start of a tradition that’s been upheld for more than 40 years.
Saying goodbye to a first lady
Betty Moss, 90, said the service was “as wonderful as Rosalynn.”Her husband, Robert Moss, 93, was an agricultural scientist and worked with former President Jimmy Carter in the early 1960s. They stayed friends all through the Carters’ time in the governor’s mansion, in the White House and their decades back in Plains.“We were glad to see him out here for Rosalynn,” Robert Moss said.
'She'll tell you: Don't stop'
Pastor Tony Lowden in his eulogy for the former first lady 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," he added.
Lowden ended his comments with a call to action for Rosalynn Carter's loved ones to carry on her lifetime of service, saying, "You have an obligation today to live on her legacy."
"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.
'She worshipped the lamb'
Pastor Tony Lowden began his eulogy for the former first lady 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 added. "She worshipped the lamb."
Rosalynn Carter's loved ones wear leis at her funeral
Former President Jimmy Carter wore a red lei at Rosalynn Carter's. Other family members wore them as well as Hawaiian shirts.
But what's the significance for the Carter family? The Carters spent time in Hawaii when Jimmy Carter was in the Navy. Rosalynn Carter was also photographed wearing carnation leis on prominent days of her husband’s presidential campaign.
A matriarch, a global humanitarian
Josh Carter, the Carters' grandson, spoke on behalf of his father, Jeff Carter, the Carters' youngest son. He called his grandmother "kind, loving and caring," telling the audience at her funeral 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. Mom, in her 80s, would get on the floor and chase babies and play peekaboo," Josh Carter said.
But he also reflected on the moments that moved her as she advocated for critical causes around the world, explaining that she would tell stories "about a performance that a village had in her honor."
"Or 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 added.
'Somebody that you could trust'
Jack Carter on Wednesday told his mother's loved ones that 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, sharing that "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," prompting laughter in the audience.
The son of the former president and first lady also recalled a time when he tried to bake a cake for his family − but accidentally set it on fire.
"She was also somebody that you could trust when things got out of hand," he said of his mother.
Nation:Plains, Georgia, remembers former first lady Rosalynn Carter: The 'Steel Magnolia'
Who is speaking during Rosalynn Carter’s funeral?
The former first lady’s funeral in Plains is set to include tributes from two of the Carters’ sons, Jack Carter and Jeff Carter.
The memorial will also include scripture readings by three of her great-grandchildren, a eulogy delivered by Pastor Tony Lowden, and music provided by vocalist Joanna Maddox, pianist David Osborne, the Georgia Southwestern State University Concert Choir and the Southwest Civic Chorus.
Carter’s Tuesday service in Atlanta included tributes from Rosalynn Carter’s longtime aide and friend Kathryn Cade, journalist Judy Woodruff, and grandson Jason Carter.
How to watch, stream Rosalynn Carter's funeral
If you want to watch the historic former first lady's funeral in her longtime Georgia home, the memorial will be streamed here at 11 a.m.
The start of a historic love story
Former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter weren't supposed to go on their first date.
On a Sunday night in 1945, Jimmy Carter, on a break from the U.S. Naval Academy and in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, was supposed to go out with another woman. But after she was busy at a family reunion, the future president sought out another date – and laid eyes on his future first lady.
“I wanted to have a date because I was getting ready to go back to Annapolis for another time of isolation,” Carter told Oprah Winfrey in an interview in 2015. “I was cruising around Plains and saw Rosalynn on the front steps of the Methodist church.”
The two went to a movie, and Carter told his mother the next morning that "she's the one I'm going to marry." They were wed July 7, 1946.
'She was unreal'
Three students from Dooly County High School drove forty minutes from Vienna, Georgia, to attend Rosalynn Carter’s funeral service. They’re all members of Future Farmers of America, a youth leadership organization of which Jimmy Carter is longtime member.
Kaleb Green, 16, said it’s “a great honor” to be in Plains on “such a historic day.”
The Carters’ legacy has inspired Green to one day run for president. He said, “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.”
Mourners begin arriving in Plains
The rural town of Plains, Ga., pop. 600, was astir early Wednesday with law enforcement, volunteers and news reporters ahead of the funeral and burial service of former first lady Rosalynn Carter.
Traffic cones and metal barriers lined the streets throughout downtown Plains and those leading to the Maranatha Baptist Church, where a service for family and friends is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.
Mourners began arriving at the church at about 8:30 a.m. They were picked up from the Plains welcome center by charter buses.
The farming town’s main roads will be closed ahead of the service and final farewell on Main Street, where people can watch as Rosalynn Carter’s motorcade heads from the church to the Carter Home and Garden, part of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park.
Rosalynn Carter will be laid to rest outside the modest ranch-style home she’s shared with Jimmy Carter since they had it built in 1961.
The Carters were a fixture at the church since they returned to Plains after leaving the White House in 1981. Jimmy Carter’s Sunday school classes drew visitors from across the country, and Rosalynn Carter, a deacon, who also taught Sunday school, helped start the church’s food drive, which now feeds hundreds of families each month. The former first lady participated in the charity event into her 90s.
'What a remarkable woman she was'
At Tuesday's service, Rosalynn Carter’s family, friends and colleagues honored her decades-long dedication to global humanitarian work. They celebrated her fight for mental health care and push for women’s rights around the world. The former first lady’s loved ones also highlighted her work via The Carter Center as she advocated for peace efforts, health programs and more.
Rosalynn Carter’s longtime aide and friend Kathryn Cade told the audience at the memorial “What a remarkable woman she was: Wife, mother, business manager, political strategist, diplomat, advocate, author. Yet what I remember most about her was her tireless dedication to taking care of others.”
Speakers also shared personal memories of the former first lady. Jason Carter, the Carters’ grandson, told the audience at the service that his family has recently reflected on a flight they took together.
As they sat in the plane, Jason Carter said, “my grandmother took out this Tupperware of pimento cheese and this loaf of bread, and she just started making sandwiches."
"She gave it to all of us grandkids everyone else, and then she just started giving them to other people on the plane," Carter added. "And people were sitting there like 'Rosalynn Carter just made me the sandwich, you know?' They couldn't believe it, but she loved people.”
'It's hard when you know them'
In Plains on Tuesday, residents and guests prepared to welcome the former first lady, humanitarian and activist to her home.
Inside the auditorium of Plains High School, where Rosalynn Carter graduated as a valedictorian in 1944, about a dozen people – mostly national park service workers – watched the memorial service for the former first lady. After each speaker, they clapped along with the crowd in Atlanta.
Joan and Dave Vogt on Tuesday watched the tribute service for Rosalynn Carter in the auditorium. They stopped in the Carters’ hometown on their way from Illinois to Sarasota, Florida, for a family vacation. “It felt very intimate,” Joan Vogt said of being in the former first lady’s high school and watching the memorial service. She met Rosalynn Carter once on the campus of Goshen College, a liberal arts college in Indiana. Rosalynn Carter was there campaigning for her husband, who was running for president at the time.
In another part of Plains, Ramona Kurland explained that she knew the former first lady and former president for about 30 years through the political memorabilia shop she owns with her husband in the Georgia town. While greeting customers, she watched a live stream on her phone of Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service.
She pointed out each member of the Carter family as they appeared on screen. After a speech from James “Chip” Carter, she wiped her cheek.
“It’s hard when you know them,” she said.
Rosalynn Carter remembered through recipes
Since Rosalynn Carter's death earlier this month, Americans across the country have been reflecting on her legacy of advocating for mental health programs, women's rights, disease eradication and more. But some have also recalled more personal moments – including her recipes.
For example, the The National Archives and Records Administration shared the recipe for a classic strawberry cake in remembrance of Rosalynn Carter, one of her family's favorites.
All you need are these ingredients:
- 1 package of yellow/white cake mix
- 1 3 oz package of strawberry jello
- ¾ cup of cooking oil
- 1 cup of chopped nuts
- 4 eggs
- 2 tablespoons of flour
- 1 10 oz package of frozen strawberries/1 pint of fresh strawberries with ½ cup of sugar
After you gather all of the ingredients, you must mix all of them together and “beat well.” Only then, can you proceed to throw the mixture into an angel cake food pan to bake at 345 F for 45 minutes or until done.