Jimmy Carter, 99, attends memorial service for his wife Rosalynn, along with US presidents
[ad_1]
Former US President Jimmy Carter, 99, made a rare public appearance on Tuesday, joining his successors Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, as well as all five living first ladies, at a memorial service for his wife Rosalyn. appeared.
Carter, looking frail, left hospice care briefly to attend a church service in Atlanta, Georgia, arriving in a wheelchair wearing a dark suit and tie and a blanket over his lap.
Although Carter did not speak, the couple’s children and grandchildren will honor the “life well lived” of Rosalynn Carter, the humanitarian and mental health advocate who redefined the role of modern first lady. praised.
Rosalynn Carter died at the age of 96 on November 19th at her home in Plains, Georgia, after 77 years of marriage that became a legend in American politics.
Fighting back tears, daughter Amy Lynn Carter read aloud a love letter her father wrote to her mother three quarters of a century ago while he was in the U.S. Navy.
“My mother spent most of her life in love with my father,” she told the congregation at Glenn Memorial Church, before reaching for her mother’s flower-covered casket.
– “Positive Difference” –
Sitting in the front row of the church were Mr. Biden, who supported Mr. Carter even before the Democratic Party won the 1976 election, and first lady Jill Biden.
Alongside them were former President Bill Clinton, who served as president from 1993 to 2001, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. and former first ladies Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, and Laura Bush.
The service included some of her favorite music, including a performance of John Lennon’s song “Imagine” by American country music stars Tricia Yearwood and Garth Brooks.
Voter turnout showed that Rosalynn Carter was highly regarded in the United States.
Hailed as the reigning first lady who championed mental health issues, which were little discussed at the time, Rosalynn Carter’s reputation has only grown since she and her husband left the White House.
Jimmy Carter, who lost re-election in 1980 to Republican Ronald Reagan, was widely dismissed as a failure.
However, the couple continued to build a global network of philanthropy and were praised for their frugal lifestyle.
Her son, James “Chip” Carter, praised his mother for helping him overcome drug and alcohol addiction, saying the former first lady made “positive changes in people’s lives.” Ta.
“At the White House, mom asked dad a lot of questions, so dad said he should go to the Cabinet meeting. So she did — and got a lot of criticism for that,” he said. I did.
– “Equal partners” –
The White House said Joe Biden and Jill Biden flew from Washington early Tuesday to take the Clintons and Michelle Obama aboard the presidential plane, Air Force One.
At Wednesday’s more private funeral in Plains, attention will inevitably turn to the health of Jimmy Carter, the oldest former president in U.S. history, who entered hospice care 10 months ago.
Presidential funerals are typically attended by all living presidents, and Carter attended George W. Bush’s memorial service in Washington in 2018, a moment of national unity.
But Biden and Donald Trump are likely to face each other in 2024 in a rematch of their bitter 2020 campaign, and even the solemn occasion of President Carter’s funeral will be scrutinized for signs of tension. .
The Carters married in 1946 and hold the record for the longest marriage for a presidential couple.
At the time of her death, Jimmy Carter said in a statement that she had been “my equal partner in everything I have ever accomplished.”
Throughout Jimmy Carter’s long political career, his wife was at the center of his campaign. During her tenure in the White House from 1977 to 1981, Rosalynn Carter worked to elevate the status of First Lady.
She met Jimmy Carter in 1945 while in college, while he was on leave from the Naval Academy in Annapolis.
[ad_2]
Source: guardian.ng