Sunday, November 19, 2023

Rosalynn Carter, 1927-2023

Earlier this afternoon I read about former First Lady Rosalynn Carter's passing at the age of 96

Carter had entered hospice care 48 hours earlier as a result of dementia which her family announced last May

She was married to former President Jimmy Carter for 77 years.

Of course, Carter made public contributions in her own right focusing on mental health both in her capacity as First Lady of Georgia and later as First Lady of the United States. Aside from Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rosalynn Carter is probably the most notable First Lady in American history given that she would represent President Carter aboard as she did when she led the U.S. delegation to Pope Paul VI's funeral in 1978 as well as acting as an envoy in Latin America. Of course, she was an equal partner in the work of the Carter Center and in Habitat for Humanity. 

Yet she was married to Jimmy Carter as long as most people are alive. Keep in mind that former President Carter himself has been in hospice care since February and somehow hung on to reach his 99th birthday last month. He has shown a very remarkable constitution. However, now that he has lost his wife of more than three quarters of a century, it is difficult to see how much longer he can carry on. Under the circumstances, it would not come as a shock if he were to join Rosalynn beyond the sky in only a matter of days. R.I.P.

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