(NewsNation) — Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, 96, has entered hospice care at home, the Carter Center announced in a statement Friday.
Her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, 99, started receiving hospice care, also at home, earlier this year. A few months later, Rosalynn was diagnosed with dementia.
“(Rosalynn Carter) and President Carter are spending time with each other and their family,” a statement from the Carter Center said. “The Carter family continues to ask for privacy and remains grateful for the outpouring of love and support.”
Rosalynn Carter served as First Lady from 1977 to 1981 and advocated for several causes, including mental health research and those in caregiving roles with loved ones, according to a White House biography. She served as the Honorary Chairperson of the President’s Commission on Mental Health from 1977 through 1978.
“Mrs. Carter often noted that there are only four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers; those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers,” a previous family statement said.
The Carters are the longest-married first couple in U.S. history. Growing up, Rosalynn, (then Smith) had been a friend and neighbor of the Carter family in Plains, Georgia, the White House says on its website. Jimmy Carter’s mother, a nurse, had even been the one to deliver Rosalynn Carter when she was born on Aug. 18,1927.
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter got married on July 7, 1946. Their daughter, Amy Lynn, was born in Georgia in 1967.
The couple considered themselves “full partners” throughout Jimmy Carter’s political career, presidency, and the public life for both of them that followed. When Jimmy Carter entered politics in 1962 after winning a seat in the Georgia Senate, Rosalynn, who was a member of his campaign team, was able to help gain support for her husband’s bid to be governor of the state in 1970.
As her husband campaigned for president, Rosalynn Carter traveled throughout the United States, later becoming a hardworking First Lady who managed routine duties and special projects in the East Wing, The White House said. When she returned home, Rosalynn Carter wrote an autobiography, and she and her husband founded The Carter Center, which aims to promote peace and human rights around the world.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.