Honors are pouring out for 98-year-old Jimmy Carter in hospice care
Dozens of well-wishers made the pilgrimage to the Carter Center in Atlanta on Sunday as prayers and remembrances of former President Jimmy Carter’s legacy were offered a day after he entered hospice care at his small Baptist church in Plains, Georgia.
Among those who paid his respects was his niece, who mentioned the 39th President’s years of service in an emotional address at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Carter taught Sunday school for decades.
“I just want to read one of Uncle Jimmy’s quotes,” Kim Fuller said during Sunday School morning service, adding, “Oh, this is going to be really hard.”
She was referring to this Carter quote: “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. I am free to choose that something. … My faith demands that I do what I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can.”
“As we think about it, maybe it’s time to pass the baton,” Fuller said before leading the congregation in prayer. “Who will pick it up, I have no idea. I don’t know. Because this baton is going to be really big.”
Carter, the longest-living American president at 98, has recently had a series of brief hospitalizations. The Carter Center said in a statement Saturday that he has now “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care in lieu of additional medical procedures.”
In Atlanta, people, some traveling many miles, made their way to the Carter Center to reflect on the life of the former president on a sunny spring Sunday.
“I brought my sons here today to show respect to President Carter and to teach them a little about what a great humanitarian he was, especially in the later stages of his life,” said James Culbertson, who drove an hour from Calhoun to Atlanta , Georgia.
The Presidential Library was closed in honor of President’s Day weekend, but people still came to stroll past the fountains and through the gardens.
David Brummett, of Frederick County, Maryland, said he changed his plans for Sunday morning when he heard the news that Carter was in hospice care.
Brummett paused next to a large statue of Carter, at the base of which someone had placed a potted plant of purple chrysanthemums.
“Great man, great president, probably underestimated by those who didn’t know much about him,” Brummett said. “People should come here to appreciate the life and contributions he made during his presidency and after.”
Atlanta native Margaret Seitter met Carter in the 1980s while he was teaching foreign relations in one of her classes at Emory University. Seitter and her boyfriend Larry Goeser, who were visiting from Florida, were among those who paid their respects to the Carter Center.
Both said they were inspired by Carter’s work with Habitat for Humanity, which he continued by helping build homes well into his later life.
“I definitely want to build a Habitat for Humanity house in his honor,” Seitter said.
After Fuller’s Sunday School service at Maranatha Baptist Church, Pastor Hugh Deloach prayed for the Carter family, especially Rosalynn Carter, the former President’s wife.
The Carters have been married for more than 75 years and have made American history as the longest-married presidential couple.
“Lord, especially Mrs. Carter, and God look back on the times and years they were together, and Lord strengthen them in the power of Your power too,” the pastor said.
Others took to social media to remember Carter, who was serving one term after defeating President Gerald Ford in 1976.
President Joe Biden tweeted, “To our friends Jimmy and Rosalynn and their families — Jill and I are with you in prayer and sending you our love.”
“We admire you for the strength and humility you have shown in difficult times. May you continue your journey with grace and dignity, and may God grant you peace,” Biden wrote.
US Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, also took to Twitter to pay homage to Carter: “Throughout the seasons, President Jimmy Carter, a man of great faith, has walked with God. In this tender time of transition, God walks safely with him.”
“May he, Rosalynn and the entire Carter family be comforted in this peace and have our love and prayers surrounding them,” Warnock wrote.
The Carters volunteered for Habitat for Humanity for decades, beginning in 1984 through 2020.
“All of us at Habitat for Humanity lift up President and Mrs. Carter in prayer as he enters hospice care,” Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, said in a statement.
“We pray for his comfort and for their peace, and that the Carter family may experience the joy of their relationships with one another and with God at this time,” Reckford said.
Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist, tweeted: “Award winners and truly amazing people. Few are as truly good as Jimmy Carter, now in hospice at the age of 98. He’s leaving this planet so much better than he found it. A great, great, great man.”
Carter was a little-known governor of Georgia when he ran for the presidency before the 1976 election. He went on to defeat Ford and benefited as a Washington outsider after the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal that ousted Richard Nixon in 1974.
Carter served a turbulent single term, being defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980, a landslide loss that ultimately paved the way for his decades-long advocacy for democracy, public health, and human rights through the Carter Center.
The former president and his wife Rosalynn, 95, opened the center in 1982. His work there won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.
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Khan reported from Albany, New York. Associated Press journalist Mark Thiessen contributed from Anchorage, Alaska.
