Former US president Jimmy Carter attends memorial service for late wife Rosalynn

Nov 28, 2023

Friends, family and dignitaries gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday night to honour former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who died last week at the age of 96.

Jimmy Carter, the 99-year-old US president between 1977 and 1981, was in attendance, despite being on hospice care himself, and wore a blue and white blanket which was embroided with the face of Mrs Carter at the memorial event.

Mr Carter had not been seen in public since September, and spent the previous night only feet away from where his late wife lay in state at The Carter Center.

President Joe Biden and his wife Dr Jill were also in attendance at the Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church in Atlanta, as was vice-president Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff.

Also there to pay tribute to Mrs Carter were all living first ladies, including Hilary Clinton (and her husband Bill), Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Melania Trump.

Among the speakers at the memorial were the Carters’ son Chip, who reflected on his mother coming into politics, Kathryn Cade, a White House aide who helped build The Carter Center and journalist Judy Woodruff, who followed the pair on the presidential campaign.

Paige Alexander, who runs The Carter Center, said the trip was “hard” for Mr Carter, who has been receiving hospice care for almost a year, but added “this is her last trip up and it’s probably his, too… determined.”

Rosalynn Carter’s funeral will be held on Wednesday with a private ceremony at the Marantha Baptist Church,

She will be buried in a plot the couple will eventually share, visible from the home they built ahead of Mr Carter’s first political campaign in 1962.

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