BELOW SUPERNAV drop zone ⇩

Rosalynn Carter marks 96th birthday at home with former president, butterflies and ice cream

In this Sept. 15, 1966, file photo, then Georgia State Sen. Jimmy Carter hugs his wife, Rosalynn, at his Atlanta campaign headquarters. Rosalynn Carter turns 96 on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023 and is celebrating at home in Plains, Ga., with her family, including former President Jimmy Carter. Her plan includes eating cupcakes and peanut butter ice cream, then releasing butterflies in her garden — with friends doing the same around the Carters’ hometown. (AP Photo/File)

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

ATLANTA (AP) — Rosalynn Carter will celebrate her 96th birthday at home Friday with her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, and other family members, while the surrounding community of Plains, Georgia, honors the former first lady’s years of public health advocacy.

The latest milestone comes as Rosalynn Carter navigates dementia and the former president, now 98, continues to receive hospice care. Yet they remain together in the same small town where they were born, married and that anchored Jimmy Carter’s victorious 1976 presidential campaign.

Rosalynn will have a quiet birthday celebration, according to The Carter Center, the human rights organization the pair opened in Atlanta after losing his 1980 reelection bid. She plans to eat cupcakes and peanut butter ice cream, nodding to the couple’s experience as Georgia peanut farmers, which became part of their political branding.

She also will release butterflies in the Carters’ garden; her love of butterflies traces back to childhood. Extended family and friends also plan for several butterfly releases around Plains, including at the small public garden next to the home where Eleanor Rosalynn Smith was born on Aug. 18, 1927.

The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers is sponsoring a screening of a new film, “Unconditional,” which focuses on the challenges people face as caregivers for sick, aging and disabled loved ones. The event, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Plains High School, is open to the public.

Since her husband was Georgia’s governor in the early 1970s, Rosalynn Carter has called for a more comprehensive American health care system treating mental health as integral to overall health and recognizing the importance of caregivers to the nation’s social and economic well-being.

“Her incredible ability is to both look at a problem from the need for policy changes, and to think about the individual who lives next door or down the street and is struggling,” said Jennifer Olsen, who leads the Rosalynn Carter Institute.

Olsen noted the former first lady has pushed multiple U.S. administrations to establish an office within the Department of Health and Human Services dedicated exclusively to advocating for caregivers. The office develops specific programs to aid caregivers and analyzes all public policy — from tax provisions to labor rules and regulations — through the vantage point of people caring for loved ones.

Her emphasis on caregiving has gained new attention amid the Carters’ declining health. In February, The Carter Center announced the 39th president would forgo further hospital treatment and instead receive only end-of-life care at home. In May, the family also disclosed the former first lady has dementia, though they have not offered details about her condition.

In recent months the couple’s four children, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, have been a near-constant presence at the compound. Close friends and some extended family also have visited, as the couple seems to defy their age and conditions, even attending the Plains’ Independence Day fireworks display in July.

The circumstances bring a sharper focus to one of Rosalynn’s favorite observations, Olsen said.

“There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers,” she has said over the years.

Rosalynn Carter is the second-oldest presidential spouse in U.S. history. Bess Truman died at 97 in 1982, the year after the Carters left the White House. Jimmy Carter is the longest-lived president. The longest-married first couple in history, the Carters’ marked their 77th wedding anniversary in July.

Politics

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Site Settings Survey

 

MAIN AREA MIDDLE drop zone ⇩

Trending on NewsNation

MAIN AREA BOTTOM drop zone ⇩

tt

KC Chiefs parade shooting: 1 dead, 21 shot including 9 kids | Morning in America

Witness of Chiefs parade shooting describes suspect | Banfield

Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Mom of 2 dead, over 20 shot | Banfield

WWE star Ashley Massaro 'threatened' by board to keep quiet about alleged rape: Friend | Banfield

Friend of WWE star: Ashley Massaro 'spent hours' sobbing after alleged rape | Banfield

Sunny

la

66°F Sunny Feels like 66°
Wind
6 mph SW
Humidity
48%
Sunrise
Sunset

Tonight

A few clouds. Low around 50F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
50°F A few clouds. Low around 50F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Wind
6 mph N
Precip
10%
Sunset
Moon Phase
Waxing Gibbous