Rosalynn Carter to be buried in her Georgia hometown
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An honor guard from the Georgia State Patrol stands at the casket of Rosalynn Carter before her funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church on Nov. 29 in Plains, Georgia. Photo: Alex Brandon/Pool/Getty Images
Several days of tributes to former first lady Rosalynn Carter came to a close on Wednesday where her life began: in her hometown of Plains, Georgia.
Driving the news: Carter's funeral took place at Maranatha Baptist Church, which the Carters attended for four decades and where former president Carter taught Sunday school regularly after leaving the White House.
- She will be buried Wednesday afternoon on the grounds of the home she and her husband have owned since 1961, which they donated to the National Park Service to become a historic site after their deaths.
What they're saying: "She worked with everyone. From world leaders, to those living on less than $1 a day," the Carters' grandson Josh said during the service.
- "Everywhere she went she told us the people were just as smart and just as capable as she was."
Of note: Members of the Carter family, including Jimmy Carter, wore leis Wednesday — a nod to the couple's Naval service in Hawai'i.
- Josh Carter noted that Rosalynn became a "champion hula dancer" there and loved her time in the state.
- At her Tuesday memorial in Atlanta, their son Chip told the story of Rosalynn doing the hula again just this year — even after her dementia diagnosis.
The big picture: The Carters met when they were growing up in their southwest Georgia hometown of Plains. Today the town has a population of nearly 3,000 and is dominated by the Carters and their legacy.
- In fact, much of the area is already part of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Park, including his boyhood farm, 1976 presidential campaign headquarters and Plains High School, where both Carters graduated.
- After the White House they chose to return to Plains and remained based there the rest of their lives, even as their work with the Carter Center took them around the world.
- Their decision to be buried there was a strategic one, as the Carters' friend Jill Stuckey told the AP in 2007: "This will make Plains a tourist attraction for eternity."
