Jimmy Carter’s family is ‘grateful’ one year after he entered hospice care (2024)

By Tim Darnell

Published: Feb. 18, 2024 at 3:36 PM CST

ATLANTA, Ga. (WANF/Gray News) - When The Carter Center announced one year ago the 39th president of the United States was entering hospice care, the world’s media rushed to Jimmy Carter’s hometown of Plains, Georgia, for what were widely expected to be preparations for a state funeral.

But in 2024, Georgia’s favorite son continues disproving accounts of his reported demise, despite the sorrow that came with the passing of his beloved wife and partner in every way, Rosalynn Carter.

“One year after entering hospice care, President Carter continues to be at home with his family,” the Carter Center said Friday. “The Carter Family is grateful for the many expressions of love they have received and the continued respect for their privacy during this time. The family is pleased that his decision last year to enter hospice care has sparked so many family discussions across the country on an important subject.”

Carter’s last public appearance, indeed, was in November at Rosalynn Carter’s funeral; the former first lady passed away at the age of 96, only days after entering hospice care herself.

In late May, the Carter Center announced Mrs. Carter was experiencing dementia. The announcement came months after the center announced Jimmy Carter was entering hospice care.

On Oct. 17, 2019, having been married 26,765 days, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter became the longest-married presidential couple in history. George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush previously held the record.

“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” President Carter said in a statement issued after his wife’s death. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”

Carter turned 99 years old on Oct. 1, 2023. The couple’s last public appearance together was at the annual Plains Peanut Festival, also held in October. The Carters had visited the Plains Peanut Festival before, which celebrates the presidential couple and the region’s cash crop.

Carter was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia,, a small farming town located about 150 miles south of downtown Atlanta. He grew up in the nearby community of Archery.

Carter attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology before heading to the U.S. Naval Academy, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1946. While serving in the Navy, he became a submariner and rose to the rank of lieutenant.

On July 7, 1946, Carter married Rosalynn Smith. Seven years later, he resigned from the Navy and returned to Georgia. Carter was an active member of the community and eventually entered the political world in 1962, when he was elected to the Georgia Senate.

Four years later, he would run for governor, but lost in a primary to the eventual winner, Lester Maddox. Carter would try again four years later, and this time, would cruise to an easy victory over Republican Hal Suit. He was sworn in as Georgia’s 76th governor on Jan. 12, 1971.

Exactly three years to the date of his inauguration into the governor’s mansion, Carter announced his candidacy for president of the United States. He would go on to win the Democratic nomination in 1976 and was elected on Nov. 2, narrowly defeating incumbent Republican Gerald Ford.

The first - and still only - president from Georgia capped off the day by walking in the inauguration parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, something never seen from a just-inaugurated president.

Carter’s rise to the White House ranks as one of the most unlikely political victories in U.S. history. He was virtually unknown to the country, and campaigned on a promise to never tell a lie.

Carter was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1977, but would only serve one term in office. He was defeated soundly in the 1980 election by Republican candidate Ronald Reagan.

While some presidents ride off into the sunset after serving in office, Carter was just getting started. In 1982, Carter became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta and founded the Carter Center.

In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

Carter taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains for nearly four decades. Thousands of people from all over the world would line up outside the small church to hear his ministry over the years. Some say Carter knew the Bible better than any president since Abraham Lincoln.

Carter was diagnosed with cancer in August 2015 at age 91 after having surgery to remove a lesion on his liver. After having the surgery, Carter announced the cancer had spread to other parts of his body. Later that year, the Carter Center said he had been cleared of the disease.