He was with his wife during her final hours but did not appear publicly during earlier events at her alma mater, Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, and at his presidential library. The service was held during three days of events celebrating the humanitarian who died Nov. 19 at home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 96. Tributes began Monday in the Carters’ native Sumter County and continued at Glenn Memorial Church in Atlanta. Amy Lynn Carter (born October 19, 1967) is the only daughter of the 39th U.S. president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. Carter first entered the public spotlight as a child when she lived in the White House during her father’s presidency. Much like dad Chip, James chose to go down the political route, studying public budgeting and finance at Georgia State University.

Hugo James Wentzel and Errol Carter Kelly

Maranatha, tucked away at the edge of Plains where the town gives way to cotton fields, has no powerful organ, instead the cross her husband made and offering plates he turned on his lathe. Lowden, the Carters’ longtime friend and personal minister, also officiated Tuesday, emphasizing that Rosalynn Carter’s work, from the Georgia statehouse when Jimmy Carter was governor to the 120-plus countries that she visited, was an extension of her faith. Maranatha, tucked away at the edge of Plains where the town gives way to cotton fields, has no powerful organ; instead the cross her husband made and offering plates he turned on his lathe. Rosalynn Carter’s funeral will take place Wednesday in Plains, with an invitation-only service at Maranatha Baptist Church, where the Carters have been members since returning to Georgia after his presidency. She will be buried after a private graveside service in a plot the couple will share, visible from the front porch of the home they built before Jimmy Carter’s first political campaign in 1962. Though the president didn’t speak at the service, he and his wife “shared a private moment” with Jimmy Carter beforehand, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

She Enjoys a Quiet Life

Jason followed his grandfather Jimmy and his father Jack’s footsteps into politics. In a May 2010 special election, Jason was elected to the Georgia Senate, ABC News reported, and he served as a state senator until 2015. During his tenure, he supported a controversial bill called the Safe Carry Protection Act, which permitted licensed gun owners to bring firearms in public and private places, including schools, churches and bars, CNN reported. He and Langford eventually divorced, and he married his second wife, Elizabeth Brasfield, on May 15, 1992. In February 2023, the Carter Center announced that following “a series of short hospital stays,” Jimmy would be moved to hospice care. Just a few months later, the family announced Rosalynn’s dementia diagnosis, and she entered hospice care in November 2023.

1. Jimmy Carter, who is 10 months into home hospice care, watched from his wheelchair, reclining and covered by a blanket featuring his wife’s face.
2. Country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, family friends of the Carters and their successors as Habitat for Humanity ambassadors, performed a rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine” toward the end of the service.
3. According to her website, Sarah was originally born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and spent more than 10 years in New York City before relocating to Los Angeles, where she currently lives.
4. Before the Carter presidency ended, Jeff and Annette moved out of the White House to raise their three sons, Joshua Jeffrey (born in 1984), Jeremy Davis (born in 1987) and James Carlton (born in 1991).
5. In October 2024, Joshua told PEOPLE that Jeff had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and had been using deep brain stimulation therapy to manage his symptoms.

Sarah Rosemary Carter, 45

“My dad is currently living by himself, he’s able to take care of himself, he’s independent, but he built his house knowing that one day he’s going to need more help,” Joshua said. After being discharged from the Navy, Jack went back to Georgia Tech, where he graduated with a degree in nuclear physics, per the Jimmy Carter Library. He began practicing law with Langford’s father, Georgia state Sen. James Beverly Langford, before working on his father’s 1976 presidential campaign efforts.

“She was so down to earth, y’all, it was amazing,” Jason Carter said as he shared family stories, including the time when his grandmother made pimento cheese sandwiches and handed them out on a Delta flight. Now 56, Amy is a mom, an artist and a human rights advocate but she’s rarely in the spotlight today after living out her youth and young adulthood in front of the media. In addition to Amy, the former president and first lady also have three sons—John William “Jack” Carter, 76, James Earl “Chip” Carter III, 73 and Donnel Jeffrey “Jeff” Carter, 71. Jimmy announced his grandson’s death the next morning during his Sunday school sermon.

Personal life

Wednesday marked the end of three days of tributes to Rosalynn, who died Nov. 19 at the age of 96. The 39th president listened as his sons Jeff and Jack spoke of their mother’s compassion during the service at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, and as Pastor Tony Lowden offered a personal eulogy for the former first lady. Entering the White House at just nine years old, Amy was the first young child to live there since Caroline and John Jr. left the residence at five and three years old after the assassination of their father, President John F. Kennedy, in 1963. No other young children would live there until a 12-year-old Chelsea Clinton moved in 1993.

The route ended in what locals call “the Carter compound,” property that includes their one-story ranch house, the pond where she fished, and security outposts for the Secret Service agents who protected her for 47 years. The former first lady, who died Nov. 19 at the age of 96, had her intimate funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where she and her husband spent decades welcoming guests and where a wooden cross Jimmy Carter fashioned in his woodshop is displayed. Many family members, including the former president, wore leis to celebrate how much Rosalynn Carter loved living in Hawaii during the couple’s Navy years and learning to hula dance while her husband was stationed there.

Jack also attended law school at the University of Georgia and earned his Juris Doctor in 1975. So, we try to hold our family together and just john joseph kelly and amy carter enjoy the family life,” Jimmy said during a July 2015 interview on CNN’s The Lead With Jake Tapper. The sanctuary in Plains seats fewer people than the balcony at Glenn Memorial in Atlanta. Maranatha tucked away at the edge of Plains where the town gives way to cotton fields, has no powerful organ, instead the cross her husband made and offering plates he turned on his lathe.