Her journey took her from the smallest of small towns in rural Georgia to the majesty of the White House, from the campaign trails of Iowa and New Hampshire to refugee camps in Asia and impoverished villages in Africa.
But in the end, the final chapter of Rosalynn Carter’s story brought her back to Georgia, to a simple but elegant church for a simple but elegant memorial service where presidents and first ladies and governors and senators paid their respects but the only ones who spoke from the pulpit on her behalf were her pastors, family and friends.
That was Mrs. Carter. She could navigate the currents of big-time American politics and confront foreign dictators, but she never forgot her humble roots and wanted to be remembered not just as a trailblazing first lady but a caregiver for the world’s most vulnerable. What would have meant most to her, relatives agreed, was the presence of former President Jimmy Carter, who emerged from hospice care to bid farewell to his wife of three-quarters of a century.
“My grandmother doesn’t need a eulogy,” Jason Carter, one of her grandsons, told the mourners, quoting something he had been told beforehand. “Her life was a sermon. It was a mighty testament to the power of faith and the power of a deep and determined love. And she lived this public love story that we all know of, that has inspired the world including in these last days.”
Mrs. Carter, who was suffering from dementia, died at 96 last week at the family’s modest ranch-style house in Plains, Ga. It was just four months after she and her husband celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary, making them the longest-lasting presidential couple in American history.
The former president, who turned 99 last month and has rarely been seen in public since entering hospice care in February, made the 140-mile journey from Plains to Atlanta to join President Biden, former President Bill Clinton and all five living first ladies for the invitation-only service at…