Jimmy Carter’s four adult children surrounded and consoled him on Tuesday as he made a rare public appearance to attend his late wifeRosalynn Carter’s memorial service in Atlanta.
According to a program distributed at the service, the couple’s children shared readings and fond memories during the service, while their grandchildren served as honorary pallbearers.
During moving remarks, Chip shared how Rosalynn was “the glue that held our family together through the ups and downs and thicks and thins of our family’s politics.”
“As individuals, she believed in us and took care of us,” he said, adding that Rosalynn was “influential in getting me into rehab for my drug and alcohol addiction. She saved my life.”
Chip also shared a story about the time after his father was put under hospice care and his mother was diagnosed with dementia, saying: “One day, my mother was sitting with my wife, Becky, and she was reminiscing on what it was like to go to live in Hawaii, and she was talking about learning all the native dances.”
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
“She got up from the sofa, pushed her walker away, which she couldn’t take her step without, and proceeded to do the hula for two or three minutes. She grabbed her walker, turned around, sat back on the sofa, turned to my wife and said, ‘That’s how you do it,’ " he added.
James “Chip” Carter kisses the head of his father, former US President Jimmy Carter, during a tribute service for former US First Lady Rosalynn Carter.ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
Wrapped in a blanket embroidered with Rosalynn’s face, the former president himself sat in a wheelchair in the front pew, alongside current PresidentJoe Biden, former PresidentBill Clinton, and every living U.S. first lady: Dr.Jill Biden,Melania Trump,Michelle Obama,Hillary Clinton, andLaura Bush.
Rosalynn was diagnosed withdementiain May, andentered hospice carejust days ahead of her death on Nov. 19at age 96.
In an accompanying statement, President Carter said, “Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished. 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.”
The former first lady and former presidentmet when they were just babies, going on to get married and have their four children before Jimmy was elected president.
Over their decades together, the two spoke openly about their strong relationship, with the former president even penning a poem about his love in 1995. On Tuesday, the Carter Center resurfaced the poem, which read in part: “She’d smile, and birds would feel that they no longer had to sing, or it may be I failed to hear their song.”
source: people.com
