Jimmy Carter pays tribute to wife Rosalynn with unusual appearance with presidents

Yesterday, all five surviving first women attended the memorial service for Jimmy Carter’s adored wife Rosalynn, and his successors Joe Biden and Bill Clinton were also present. Carter, who is 99 years old, made an unusual public appearance.

Quite weak-looking Carter, according to AFP, left hospice care for a short time to attend the Atlanta church service. He arrived in a wheelchair and had a blanket on his lap that bore an embroidery of his wife’s face.

Even though Rosalynn Carter did not address the crowd, her children and grandkids paid tribute to her “life well lived” as a pioneer in the fight for mental health and a champion for humanitarian causes.

“My mother was the glue that held our family together,” expressed James “Chip” Carter, who kissed his father on the head and placed his hand on his mother’s coffin draped in flowers.

According to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One, Biden and First Lady Jill Biden shared a “special moment with President Carter” before to the service.

Following a storied 77-year marriage, Rosalynn Carter passed away at the age of 96 on November 19 in their Plains, Georgia, home.

– “Believing” –

Their daughter Amy Lynn Carter read aloud a heartfelt letter her father had written to her mother three quarters of a century ago, her voice quivering with emotion as she fought back tears.

She informed the Glenn Memorial Church congregation that her mother had been head over heels about her father for the majority of her life.

Sitting in the front row of the chapel were Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. Biden had supported Carter prior to the Democrat’s 1976 election victory.

They were joined by former president Bill Clinton (who served from 1993 to 2001), former secretary of state Hillary Clinton; Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, and Laura Bush, all of whom were first ladies.

American country music duo Tricia Yearwood and Garth Brooks performed a rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine”—one of her favourite songs—during the ceremony.

Rosalynn Carter was clearly held in the highest esteem in the US, as seen by the turnout.

After leaving the White House, Rosalynn Carter and her husband Jimmy were both hailed for their work as vocal advocates for mental health, which had previously received little attention.

Many saw Jimmy Carter as a failure after he lost the 1980 reelection race to Republican Ronald Reagan.

Despite this, the pair gained praise for their modest living and went on to establish a worldwide network of charitable operations.

As a “partner”

Former first lady Chip Carter was praised by her son for assisting him in overcoming his own alcohol and drug problems.

The Bidens took off from Washington yesterday morning, escorting the Clintons and Michelle Obama on Air Force One, according to the White House. A separate jet was used by Melania Trump, it said.

The focus will naturally turn to Jimmy Carter’s health during today’s more private funeral in Plains. Carter is the oldest living US ex-president and entered hospice care ten months ago.

It is customary for all sitting presidents to attend a presidential funeral; in 2018, Carter was among those who paid their respects at the Washington monument for George W. Bush.

Even the solemn occasion of Carter’s presidential funeral will be watched closely for indications of tension, given the likelihood of Biden and Trump facing off in a 2024 replay of their intense 2020 election campaign.

The Carters were the longest-married presidential couple, having tied the knot in 1946.

“She had been my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” Jimmy Carter stated in a statement following her death.

Jimmy Carter’s wife was the driving force behind his political efforts for the entirety of his lengthy political career. Rosalynn Carter sat in on cabinet meetings and otherwise attempted to elevate the role of the first lady during her tenure as president from 1977 to 1981.

In 1945, she crossed paths with Jimmy Carter during her college years; he was on leave from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis.