LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mental health advocate, former first lady and humanitarian Rosalynn Carter died Sunday at her home in Georgia.
The wife of former President Jimmy Carter was always seen by his side during his presidency and post-presidency as champions of Habitat for Humanity. Carter was born Aug. 18, 1927 in Plains Georgia, the same town she’d meet her husband of 77 years.
“Boy, they were tight, and she was always along,” said Lyle Hanna, president of Kentucky Habitat for Humanity.
Hanna and his wife, Fayette County Judge Executive, Mary Diane McCord Hanna, first met the Carters in 1995. Their goal was to convince the former president to build homes in Kentucky. Hanna said, of course he agreed.
“I knew that he loved Eastern Kentucky and Appalachia because he started the Appalachia Regional Organization when he was president,” Hanna said.
After that initial meeting, the Hannas met with the Carters on many occasions, including a week in Hungary where Judge Executive Hanna had an idea for the former first lady and women’s rights advocate.
“When we were in Hungary, I said we should do a first ladi’s house in Pikeville and he could be at his house and she could be at an all-women’s build,” McCord Hanna said. “So it was Rosalynn, Libby Jones, who was married to Brereton Jones who recently passed away, and he was governor of Kentucky and Jinks Holton, her husband, was governor of Virginia. At the time, Paul Patton was the governor, he was from Pikeville and his wife would stop by and then Hillary Clinton stopped by one day and worked and she was the first lady at the time.”
Judge Hanna remembers Rosalynn, as quiet, polite and kind. She still has a handwritten note from the first lady.
“We had lunch at his boyhood home and I had taken some pepper jelly that I had made to give to her as a hostess gift and so I checked with her sister-in-law, Sybil Carter and said is that going to get taken away by the secret service because I don’t want to give it to her if it’s get thrown away and she said, ‘Oh no no, they’ll eat it,’” Hanna said. “A week or so later I got a thank you note, which that was my thank you to her and she thanked me so that was pretty sweet.”
“(When) you were with them, it wasn’t like you were with the president. I mean, you feel that way at first, but they put you at ease very quickly,” Lyle Hanna said.
Though the Carters only spent one term in the White House, Hanna said their post-presidency legacy is unprecedented, especially the role they played in expanding Habitat for Humanity.
“Boy, the things they did for people around the world are amazing. We need more past presidents to step up and do the same kind of thing because it was a great example of great leadership,” Hanna said.
By his side, through thick and thin and beginning to end, Rosalynn Carter passed away Sunday with family by her side.
“They were very close and you knew that because you’d ask him a question, he’d consult with her and get her input on things. She was a stalwart supporter of his always,” Hanna said.
Rosalynn Carter was 96.
A public visitation is taking place Monday night from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta. A funeral service will be held Wednesday morning, following that she will be laid to rest at the Carter home.