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Only a handful of people watched Rosalynn Carter's funeral from the auditorium of the former Plains High School, her alma mater.
Credit: Grant Blankenship/GPB
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'A tremendous woman': Former first lady Rosalynn Carter buried in hometown of Plains, Ga.
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Former first lady Rosalynn Carter was laid to rest on the Carter family property in Plains on Wednesday, capping three days of memorials.
A private funeral service for Carter was attended by friends and family at Maranatha Baptist Church, the Carters’ home church.
Before that, people like Angela Foster of Americus trickled through the former Plains High School, now the headquarters of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site.
Foster worked for Carter in her foundation devoted to supporting caregivers and came to the former Plains High School to leave her written condolences.
She said Carter’s kindness and compassion were legendary.
“If everybody would have that compassion and love for each other, the world would be such a better place,” she said.
Foster was with her friend Myrtle Habersham of Macon who, like Foster, knew Carter through their shared work with caregivers.
“She's somebody that I always remember and somebody who I'm going to miss,” Habersham said. “Every year I get a little Christmas card from her that was signed by she and the president with a little note on it. So, again, a tremendous woman.”
The auditorium in the former school was the place for people to watch the livestream of Carter’s funeral. But meanwhile, most people were lining the sides of the main drag through Plains, waiting for the funeral procession.
Sumter County school bus driver Vernita Sampson was among those who came to Plains to watch the procession. She stood on a corner by a peanut warehouse after dropping off students from the county Future Farmers of America chapter.
She acknowledged Carter’s death as a loss — kind of.
“Well, we actually don't lose anything; we gain because of the examples that they set before us,” Sampson said. “We can follow that pattern and things can get bigger, stronger and better.”
Also waiting for the motorcade was Letitia Burks, born and raised in Plains. She said she remembers seeing the Carters bicycle around town and at the local Boys and Girls Club. Burks took off work to attend the procession.
“Plains was a good place to be raised," Burks said. "It's a beautiful place. We are one big family and we're all mourning the loss of Rosalynn. They both had lived a good life. But right now, we just got to focus on Mr. Carter and make sure that he's OK.”
Because looking after each other is just what neighbors do, Burks said. Former President Jimmy Carter is 10 months into hospice care at 99 years old. The couple moved back to Plains, their hometown, in the 1980s.
Roddy Nixon came down to Plains from Warner Robins for the precessional.
“I've just always been influenced by President Carter,” said Nixon, who has visited Plains multiple times. “I've sat in on Sunday school services with President Carter. … They were just a dynamic team. And I think he said it best: There would be no him without her.”
Many remember Rosalynn Carter for being her husband's confidant during his presidency, going as far as attending Cabinet meetings and testifying to Congress.
Most who attended the final procession were neighbors of the Carters. Michael and Susan Smith live in Florida, but own a home in Plains. They, like many other neighbors of the Carters, came down to pay their respects to Rosalynn for a final time, and share memories of the couple.
“For the Christmas parade in the lighting of Plains, we would always sit across to the balcony, put our chairs up and my granddaughters were — were little at that time,” Michael Smith said. “And the Carters would always come out on the balcony… And they would look down at them, ‘Merry Christmas, girls.’ Something they will remember.”
Rosalynn Carter was laid to rest at the Carter family home nearby after the procession.
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