Jimmy Carter, who occupied the White House from 1977 to 1981, died on December 29 at the age of 100.
The funeral of former President Jimmy Carter began Saturday in Plains, Georgia, his hometown, where he died Dec. 29 at age 100.
The first commemorations reflected his political rise from this small town in the United States to his life on the international stage as a humanitarian and defender of democracy.
The ceremonies began with the arrival of the Carter family at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus.
Former Secret Service agents who protected the ex-president served as pallbearers, walking alongside the hearse as it left campus and headed to Plains.
James Earl Carter Jr. has lived more than 80 of his 100 years in and around the city, which still has a population of fewer than 700, barely more than when he was born on October 1, 1924.
The procession passed through downtown Plains, which spans only a few blocks, passing near the childhood home of first lady Rosalynn Smith Carter, who died in November 2023 at the age of 96 years, and near where the couple operated the family peanut warehouses.
The route also passes the old railroad depot that served as headquarters for Jimmy Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign.
The procession passed the Methodist church where the Carters were married in 1946 and the house where they lived and died. The former president will be buried there alongside Rosalynn.
After passing through Plains, the procession stopped in front of the Carter family farm and childhood home in Archery, just outside of town, after passing the cemetery where the former’s parents are buried. president.
The farm is now part of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park. The National Park Service rang the Old Farm Bell 39 times in honor of the 39th president.
From Archery, the procession headed north toward Atlanta. The military motorcade stopped in front of the Georgia Capitol, where Carter served as senator from 1963 to 1967 and governor from 1971 to 1975.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens observed a moment of silence.
While former governors are honored with state funerals, presidents, even if they have been governors, are commemorated with national rites organized by the federal government.
The motorcade then traveled to the Carter Presidential Center, which includes the presidential library and the Carter Center, established by the former president and first lady in 1982.
Carter’s son, James Earl ‘Chip’ Carter III, and his grandson, Jason Carter, addressed a gathering that included many Carter Center employees whose work, focused on international diplomacy and mediation, monitoring elections and fighting disease in developing countries, continues to set a standard for what past presidents can accomplish.
Jimmy Carter, who presented the center’s annual reports through 2019, received the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize partly for this post-presidential work.
Mr. Carter was scheduled to lie in state from 7 p.m. local time Saturday evening until 6 a.m. Tuesday, with the public able to pay their respects twenty-four hours a day.
Mr. Carter’s remains will then travel to Washington, where he will rest in the Capitol Rotunda until his funeral, which will take place at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral.
All sitting presidents have been invited and Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy.
Joe Biden also signed a bill to name a U.S. Postal Service facility in Plains after Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
The Carter family will then return to bury the former president in Plains after a private funeral in his hometown at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Carter taught Sunday school for decades.
The 39th President of the United States will then be buried in a private ceremony, in a plot visible from the front porch of his home.