Former President Jimmy Carter (right) and his wife Rosalynn Carter in 2017.Photo:David Goldman/AP
David Goldman/AP
Former PresidentJimmy Carterwill rest in peace alongside his late wife of 77 years,Rosalynn Carter, with the two buried together at the modest Georgia home they shared for decades.
Jimmy, the nation’s 39th president,died on Sunday, Dec. 29at the age of 100 in Plains,the Carter Center announcedon X.
He spent the year in hospice care at home, unable to see outside visitors, though he made appearances at Rosalynn’sstar-studded tribute service in Atlantain Nov. 2023 and, one day later, at her private funeral service in Plains. Carter was also able to fulfill a final wish this past November, casting a vote forKamala Harrisin the 2024 presidential election.
Even after their four years in the White House, Jimmy and Rosalynn never moved from the modest Georgia home they built in 1961.
Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty
The ranch house, located in their hometown of Plains, in Sumter County, features a pond Jimmy helped dig and a magnolia tree transplanted from a sprout from a tree that Andrew Jackson planted on the lawn of the White House nearly 200 years ago.
In 2018, theWashington Postreported that the two-bedroom residence, then assessed at $167,000, was “less than the value of the armored Secret Service vehicles parked outside.” Zillow currently estimates the house to be worth about $240,000.
Speaking toRolling Stonein 2011, the couple’s grandson Jason Carter said, “They built their house in the 1960s, and they almost haven’t changed a thing. They were super excited — legitimately excited! — when the Dollar General store opened in Plains. They buy their clothes there.”
The former president and first lady shared a storybook romance that began when they were just kids — Rosalynn, a newborn and Jimmy, three years old and visiting the hospital with his parents.
The former first lady and former president even coined a sweet phrase they shared with each other: “ILYTG.”
“‘I love you the goodest.’ That’s what my mother and daddy used to say back and forth, and I picked it up with Rosa,” the nation’s 39th president told PEOPLE back in 2014. “Now all our children do the same thing – ILYTG on the phone or in emails. They generally just put the initials.”
The couple shared sons John William “Jack,” James Earl “Chip,” Donnel Jeffrey “Jeff” and daughterAmy Carter. Between theirfour adult children,there are 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
source: people.com
