Jeff Martin and Maysoon Khan, The Associated Press
Published Sunday, February 19, 2023 2:27 PM EST
Last updated Sunday, February 19, 2023 3:02 PM EST
ATLANTA (AP) — 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 the worshipers 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 the Sunday School 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 the 39th President has now “determined 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 itself 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 stopped next to a large statue of Carter that had some violets placed on its 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 during his presidency and after.”
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.
“Throughout the seasons, President Jimmy Carter, a man of great faith, walked with God. In this tender time of transition, God will surely walk with him,” US Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, said in a tweet.
“May he, Rosalynn and the entire Carter family be comforted in this peace and have our love and prayers.”
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 in office and was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980, a landslide loss that ultimately paved the way for his decades-long 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 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.
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Khan reported from Albany, New York. Associated Press journalist Mark Thiessen contributed from Anchorage, Alaska.
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