Former first lady Rosalynn Carter died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, the Carter Center announced.
Rosalynn Carter died peacefully at her home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by her family, according to a statement released by the Carter Center. The Carter Center announced Monday that Rosalynn Carter has begun hospice care.
Her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. On February 18, the Carter Center released a statement saying that after a series of short hospitalizations, Jimmy Carter decided to receive hospice care at home.
The Carters are the longest married presidential couple in American history. On July 7, Carter and his wife Rosalynn celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary together at their home in Plains, Georgia. Carter and Rosalynn were born in Plains, California, and their parents were neighbors and friends, according to Biography. When Rosalynn was born in 1927, Carter’s mother Lillian, a nurse, delivered her future daughter-in-law. A few days later, Lillian took Carter, then 3 years old, to congratulate Rosalynn’s parents, and it was the first time Carter and Rosalynn had met.
Although they had known each other since childhood, it was not until Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1945 that Rosalynn visited him at his home that the two fell in love at first sight. “I told my mother after the first date that I wanted to marry her,” Carter once told the media. Carter married Rosalynn in Plains in July 1946. Carter later said in an interview that the most important decision he made in his life was not to become president of the United States, but to fall in love with Rosalynn in 1945 and marry her the following summer.
After his father’s death in 1953, Carter ended his seven-year Navy career and returned home with his wife to run his father’s farm. Rosalynn helped her husband take over the finances of the business and turn it around. Carter, who was successful in business, became involved in some political activities. In 1970, Carter set his sights on the governorship, and Rosalynn accompanied her husband on campaign trips across the state. After Carter was elected governor of Georgia, he entered the American political stage.
When Carter announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1974, Rosalynn followed him on the campaign trail again, visiting more than 40 states across the United States. After Carter was elected the 39th president of the United States, Rosalynn broke with tradition and became Carter’s political adviser, the first first lady to have her own office in the White House. The couple’s relationship is so close that Carter will affectionately call Rosalynn “Rosa” and even see Rosalynn as “a perfect extension of himself.” After Mr. Carter lost his re-election bid in 1980, the couple left the White House and returned to their home in Georgia. In 1982, Carter and Rosalynn founded the Carter Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to humanitarian work and international conflict coordination. Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Carter was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and made a miraculous recovery after undergoing treatment. In later interviews, the Carters said the ordeal had brought them closer together. In 2019, Carter suffered a series of health crises when he was hospitalized for a broken bone from a fall and a bacterial infection. In February, Carter decided to enter hospice care to spend the last days of his life with his family. Despite their poor health, the couple continued to support each other in spirit.
According to the report, Carter and Rosalynn are ready for what may come next. As early as 2015, when he was diagnosed with cancer, Carter and Rosalynn agreed to be buried under a willow tree in their home in Plains, because their love took root there.
