ATLANTA (AP) — Dozens of well-wishers made the pilgrimage Sunday to the Carter Center in Atlanta, as prayers and remembrances of former President Jimmy Carter’s legacy were offered at his small Baptist church in Plains, Pennsylvania. Georgia, a day after entering hospice care.
Among those paying tribute was his niece, who highlighted the 39th president’s years of service in a moving speech at the Maranatha Baptist Church, where Carter taught Sunday School for decades.
“I just want to read one of the quotes from Uncle Jimmy,” Kim Fuller said during the Sunday school morning service, adding, “Oh, that’s going to be really hard.”
She referenced this Carter quote: “I have one life and a chance to make it count for something. I am free to choose that something. … My faith demands that I do all I can, wherever I can, when I can, for as long as I can.
“Maybe if we think about it, maybe it’s time to pass the baton,” Fuller said before leading those gathered in prayer. “Who picks it up, I have no idea. I don’t know. Because this stick is going to be really big.
Carter, 98, the longest-lived US president, recently suffered a series of short hospital stays. The Carter Center said in a statement Saturday that the 39th president has now “decided to spend the remainder of his time at home with his family and receive palliative care in lieu of additional medical intervention.”
LEARN MORE: Former President Jimmy Carter, 98, begins hospice care at home
In Atlanta, people, some traveling many miles, made the trip to the Carter Center to reflect on the former president’s life on a spring Sunday under sunny skies.
“I brought my sons here today to pay my respects to President Carter and teach them a little about what a great humanitarian he was, especially in the later stages of his life,” said James Culbertson, who led one hour to Atlanta from Calhoun. , Georgia.
The Presidential Library itself was closed in honor of the President’s Day weekend, but people still showed up to walk past the fountains and through the gardens.
David Brummett of Frederick County, Maryland, said he changed his Sunday morning plans when he learned Carter was in hospice care.
Brummett stopped by a large statue of Carter, where someone had placed violets at the base.
“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 both during his presidency and afterwards.”
After Fuller’s Sunday School service at Maranatha Baptist Church, Pastor Hugh Deloach offered prayers for the Carter family, especially for Rosalynn Carter, the former president’s wife.
The Carters have been married for more than 75 years, making American history the longest married presidential couple.
“Lord, especially Mrs. Carter, and God reminisce about the times and years they were together and Lord, strengthen her in the power of your might as well,” the pastor said.
SHOW: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter reflect on 75 years of marriage, the state of American politics
Others took to social media to remember Carter, who served one term after defeating President Gerald Ford in 1976.
“Through the seasons of life, President Jimmy Carter, a man of great faith, walked with God. In this tender time of transition, surely God walks with him,” US Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, said in a tweet.
“May they, Rosalynn and the entire Carter family be comforted by this peace and surrounded by our love and prayers.”
The Carters volunteered for decades with Habitat for Humanity, beginning in 1984 and continuing through 2020.
“All of us at Habitat for Humanity lift President and Mrs. Carter up in prayer as he enters hospice care,” Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford said in a statement.
“We pray for his comfort and for their peace, and that the Carter family will experience joy in their relationship with each other and with God at this time,” Reckford said.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof tweeted: “Truly awesome winners and people. Few are as good as Jimmy Carter, who at 98 is now entering a hospice. He leaves this planet so much better than he found it. A big, big, big man. »
SHOW: Former President Jimmy Carter shares his busy and lucky life in new memoir
Carter was a little-known Georgia governor when he began his bid for president before the 1976 election. He went on to defeat Ford, capitalizing as an outsider in Washington following the Vietnam War and the scandal of the Watergate that ousted Richard Nixon from office in 1974.
Carter served a tumultuous single term and was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980, a crushing loss that finally paved the way for his decades of global 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 Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Khan reported from Albany, New York. Associated Press reporter Mark Thiessen contributed from Anchorage, Alaska.
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