Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter’s marriageis a love story for the ages.
Sweet as their story is, the Carters have experienced ups and downs like any long-term couple does.
“It’s hard to live until you’re 95 years old,” Jimmy toldPeoplein 2019.
What began as a young romance flourished into a shining example of what true love looks like.
In the 1920s, the couple’s parents were next-door neighbors and friends living in Plains, Georgia.
Jimmy’s mother was a nurse, and she assisted in delivering newborn Eleanor Rosalynn.
“He looked through the cradle bars and saw me,” Rosalynn toldThe Washington Post.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter was pursuing a military career at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
While he was away, Rosalynn had seen photos of Jimmy in his military uniform.
Before his final year in the academy began, Jimmy enjoyed the summer at home in Georgia.
She said yes and they’ve been together ever since.
Rosalynn wrote about their first date in her memoir, “First Lady from Plains.”
And on the way home, he kissed me!"
In her memoir, Rosalynn wrote, “It was all too quick.
I felt very young and naive next to his worldly manner.”
Evidently, Rosalynn needed just a few months before she felt ready to get engaged.
The couple married at a church in their hometown on July 7, 1946.
Jimmy was 21 years old, and Rosalynn was 18.
The uneven disposition of their partnership caused a major disconnect when they returned to their hometown.
Rosalynn told theAP, “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business …
I knew more on paper about the business than he did.
He would take my advice about things.”
In the ’60s, he decided he’d get into politics without consulting Rosalynn.
First, he ran for Senate, and then, threw his hat in the race for Georgia governor.
From that moment on, the dynamic changed.
He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Rosalynn and Jimmy named their youngest boy Donnel Jeffrey Carter.
She was nine years old when he won the 1976 election.
Of the time they spent on the campaign trail, Rosalynn gushed to theAP, “I love it.
I had the best time.
I was in all the states in the United States.
I campaigned solid every day the last time we ran.”
Rosalynn wasn’t interested in following the path of the first ladies who came before her, though.
In fact, Rosalynn made history in quite a few ways during her run as first lady.
“She was the person we’d go to if we needed to turn Jimmy around on something.”
That’s when the Carter Center was born.
It has been a wonderful challenge."
Philanthropy has been a massive part of the Carters' lives since their days in the White House.
They also take turns reading the Bible to each other every day.
The sweet phrase is still used throughout the family today, spanning several generations of Carters.
“Now all our children do the same thing ‘ILYTG’ on the phone or in emails.
They generally just put the initials,” the former president explained.
After Jimmy’s cancer diagnosis, he fell and broke a hip.
Then, after another fall, Jimmy underwent surgery for a brain bleed.
Though they’ve recovered from each ailment, the couple’s health remains unstable today.
The couple’s middle son, Chip Carter, toasted his parents' union during the party.
“They taught us their values Christian values.
Plains, Georgia, values.
They protected their partnership perfectly,” he said, as reported byAlive.
In August 2023, Rosalynn turned 96; Bess Truman was 97 when she died in 1982.
