Keep reading to see our feature on former President Jimmy Carter, originally posted Oct. 21, 2024. May he rest in peace.
UPDATE:
This info was supplied to the media and general public via JimmyCarterTribute.org. Funeral services honoring former President Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, who passed away at age 100 on Dec. 29, 2024, begin Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, and conclude on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025.
10:15 a.m.
The state funeral begins with the Carter family’s arrival at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia. Current and former special agents in charge from the United States Secret Service – Carter Protective Division will carry President Carter’s remains to the hearse and walk alongside it as the motorcade departs from the medical center.
The motorcade will then travel from Americus to President Carter’s hometown of Plains.
10:50 a.m.
After passing through Plains, the motorcade will pause briefly in front of the farm that was President Carter’s boyhood home. During the pause, the National Park Service will salute the late president and ring the historic farm bell 39 times.
10:55 a.m.
After the pause, the late president officially begins his final journey to Atlanta.
3 p.m.
As the motorcade arrives in Atlanta, it will stop at the Georgia State Capitol for a moment of silence led by Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, members of the Georgia Legislature, and Georgia State Patrol troopers.
President Carter’s remains then will be transported to the Carter Presidential Center.
3:45 p.m.
An arrival ceremony will take place at the Carter Presidential Center.
4 p.m.
A private service will be conducted in the lobby of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.
7 p.m.
The former president will lie in repose for mourners to come and pay their respects continuously until 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
The late president continues to lie in repose at The Carter Center. The public is invited to pay their respects throughout this time.
The late president continues to lie in repose at The Carter Center. The public is invited to pay their respects throughout this time.
6 a.m.
Public visitation ends.
9:30 a.m.
President Carter leaves the Carter Presidential Center for the final time with a departure ceremony. The family then accompanies the remains to Dobbins Air Reserve Base outside Atlanta.
10:40 a.m.
The family and President Carter’s remains board Special Air Mission 39 and depart for Washington.
12:45 p.m.
Special Air Mission 39 arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, where President Carter’s remains will be transferred with ceremony to a hearse.
1:15 p.m.
The family and President Carter’s remains will then travel by motorcade to the U.S. Navy Memorial.
2 p.m.
The remains are transferred from the hearse to a horse-drawn caisson for a procession to the U.S. Capitol. Military body bearers will carry the casket into the Capitol Rotunda.
3 p.m.
Members of Congress will pay their respects during a service in the Rotunda.
7 p.m.-midnight
President Carter will lie in state while the military maintains a guard of honor. The public is invited to pay their respects throughout these hours.
7 a.m.
The public is invited to pay their respects as the late president continues to lie in state while the military maintains a guard of honor.
7 a.m.
Lying in state and public visitation end.
9 a.m.
President Carter’s remains are removed from the Capitol with a ceremony.
9:30 a.m.
President Carter’s remains arrive at the Washington National Cathedral, where a brief arrival ceremony is held.
10 a.m.
The National Funeral Service for President Carter takes place.
11:15 a.m.
Upon conclusion of the funeral service, President Carter and his family will travel by motorcade to Joint Base Andrews.
11:45 a.m.
The president’s remains and family will board Special Air Mission 39 for the final journey home to Georgia.
2 p.m.
Special Air Mission 39 arrives at Lawson Army Airfield on Fort Moore, Georgia, where President Carter’s remains will be transferred to the hearse for a motorcade to Plains, Georgia.
3:30 p.m.
The motorcade carrying President Carter’s remains and his family arrive at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.
3:45 p.m.
A private funeral service takes place at Maranatha Baptist Church.
4:45 p.m.
After the funeral service, the late president and his family travel by motorcade to the Carter residence. The public is invited to line the motorcade route through his beloved hometown of Plains. The U.S. Navy will conduct a “Missing Man” formation flyover in honor of former President Carter’s naval service and time as commander in chief shortly after the motorcade’s arrival at the residence.
5:20 p.m.
A private interment ceremony takes place, concluding the schedule of events.
Additional information to include public access points, prohibited items
To make donations to the Carter Center CLICK HERE.
ORIGINAL POST: Oct. 21, 2024
Here is our original article about President Jimmy Carter as a baseball fan:
President Jimmy Carter turns 100 Oct. 1: His favorite baseball moment; baseball with his family
As President Jimmy Carter turns 100 years old on Oct. 1, he is still the ultimate Atlanta Braves baseball fan; that’s why they chose Terry Pendleton and Dale Murphy to play a part in his tribute birthday party.
Carter could not attend the celebration but will watch it on TV. And the other thing he’s been watching on TV are the Braves games.
The Braves clinched a spot in the play-offs on Monday and will open the Wild Card Series Tuesday night in San Diego– quite a birthday present for the former President.
“He loves watching the Braves play,” his grandson Jason Carter told GPB the PBS Station in an interview.
Pendleton, who played third base for the St. Louis Cardinals went on to play for President Carter’s favorite team and then became hitting coach. Because of the Braves connection, Pendleton has gotten to meet the former President and was asked to participate in the “100th Birthday Celebration.”
Since Carter loves the Braves so much, they presented a Braves Jersey with “Carter 100” on the back, to his family.
Terry Pendleton and Dale Murphy presented the jersey from the Braves to one of Carter’s grandsons, Josh Carter, and family.
“Terry and Dale were asked to do an intro to one of the artists performing,” Pendleton’s wife, Cathy told us. “We met the grandson and family backstage.”
The photo, right was given to us by Sarah Carter, Josh’s wife. The former President and his wife have four chilren: John William “Jack,” James Earl “Chip,” Donnel Jeffrey “Jeff” and daughter Amy Carter. Josh is Jeff’s son.
President Carter and his late wife, Rosalynn would frequently drive to Atlanta for Braves games.
Even in his later years, he and the former First Lady kept up with the Braves by watching the games on television. She preceded him in death, passing away Nov. 19, 2023, but he always has the TV on when there is a Braves game.
Even when he went on hospice care last year, Carter always kept up on the news of the day– and that would include the score of the game. On July 7, 2023, they Carters celebrated their 77th anniversary– that’s number 77 on 7-7. The Braves beat Tampa Bay that night and they watched the game together. Lately he has become more “physically diminished” as his grandson said, he still enjoys knowing what the Braves did.
He’s always been a huge baseball fan, and was often seen at Braves games- two and a half hours from his home in Plains, Georgia. The former first couple would be in their prime seats and wearing Braves hats. Another grandson James Carter IV lives in Atlanta and sometimes attended games with him. We recently met Carter IV and asked him if if he was as big of a baseball fan as his grandpa.
“I don’t think anyone else could be as big of a baseball fan as he is,” said the younger Carter, shown left with Rob Rains. “It was a different experience going to baseball games with him because you got to sit right by the on-deck circle.”
One of the most famous games the Carters attended was in 1992. The Former President was at Game Seven of the Braves National League Championship Series against the Pirates –and he always considered this game to be one of his favorite memories as a Braves fan.
Francisco Cabrera hit a two-out single, and first basemen Sid Bream slid into home sending the Braves to the 1992 World Series.
President Carter jumped the railing, pushed past the police, and started hugging the players.
“I remember that game. I was there,” said Rob Rains, who was covering the game for USA Today’s Baseball Weekly. “I even remember the lead to my story, ‘It was the kind of game you don’t believe happened until you read about it in the newspaper the next day; the problem with Pirates fans is the paper is on strike so they can’t even read about it.”
Rains covered games Carter has attended but former Cardinal third baseman, Pendleton has has actually been around him.
The Carter Center delivered a star-studded lineup for Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song, with stars like BeBe Winans, Carlene Carter, Duane Betts, India Arie, Lalah Hathaway, and The B-52s, along with Academy Award-winning actress Renée Zellweger and others including Pendleton.
Nicholas Inman of Marshfield, Missouri and his family became friends with the Carters years ago. They have traveled to Plains many times to visit them and Inman has guest-taught in his Sunday School class and sang at his church.What is Plains, Georgia like?
Our respect for Carter even magnified when we went to Plains, Georgia. After having a life that included going to the Naval Academy, being the governor of Georgia and then the President of the United States where he met world leaders, rock stars, and other former Presidents– he chose to live out his life in his very humble hometown of Plains.
If you go to Plains, it is not very hard to figure out where the Carters live. We spotted the gated property with the guard sitting out front. There were several American flags and a very peaceful setting.
We asked one of the townspeople if the Carter’s house was the one with the big fence around it– and they actually gave us directions to find it. Everyone knows him (personally) and everyone seems to love him. Though he was the President of the United States, he was very much a part of the community.
There is literally only one gas station in town– and the pumps are completely rusted out. That gas station is now sort of a museum, but at one time it was Billy Carter’s gas station.
During Jimmy’s run for president the national media often gathered at the service station owned by the then-candidate’s colorful brother.
Billy Carter was a character– remember the “Billy Beer?”
So there are actually no gas stations that pump gas and no fast food restaurants. Though everything in town is about Jimmy Carter, they have managed to keep it respectful and it is more historic than commercial.
One of the only restaurants in town, which is said to be Carter’s favorite is Bonita’s and the owner of the restaurant is a friend of the Carter family’s.
When we heard about it we had to go there. Since we would be getting on the road soon, Rob asked for a sandwich. The owner of the restaurant, Bonita Hightower, known as “Mrs. Bonita” looked at him as if she was insulted.
“Why would you want a sandwich when I’ve made all this lunch?” she said as she proudly showed off the buffet (shown right) which included salad, ham, baked chicken with gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, two kinds of rice and cornbread.
You get one meat and two sides and sweet tea also came with it. We could see why the Carters like Bonita’s, it was delicious and definitely a testament to Southern cooking.
They did not have catfish on the buffet the day we went. Mrs. Bonita has told news outlets over the years that the Carters both liked to order catfish– Rosalyn liked hers baked and Jimmy likes his fried. Carter is also said to like grits. There was plenty of choices on the Sunday Brunch buffet. We did look at her fresh baked desserts and went with the blueberry bread which had an old fashioned “coffee-cake” taste to it.
Right up from Bonita’s Restaurant, there is an area that looks like a typical “Main Street” that is often found in smaller towns where a group of small businesses are. As suspected, it’s called Main Street.
The Plains Trading Post was filled with Presidential items– not just Jimmy Carter.
“This is the largest collection of Presidential memorabilia in the world,” said owner, Phillip Kurland. “We’ve got everything you don’t need and nothing you need.”
Kurland entertained every person who came in with a joke. He has more presidential jokes than one can imagine. He even had Sarah Palin jokes. (Why did Sarah Palin keep putting quarters in the soda machine? Because she was winning.– There were more but you get the idea)
“I’m not against any political party,” he said. “Whoever you are for, that’s who I’m for.”
We picked up a copy of. the children’s book, “The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer “written by Jimmy Carter, illustrated by his daughter Amy. We also got Amy Carter’s Coloring book, “From Plains to Washington” — written and illustrated by Amy– to send to our grandsons.
Kurland said that Amy Carter often comes in the shop and that she was in there recently.
This area of town is where the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail is. There is a park with flowers and also many planters with flowers, container gardens, and in-ground gardens at the corner of Main Street and Hudson Street.
Bobby Salter’s Peanuts and General Store is next door. Since we went on a Sunday it was closed.
Jimmy Carter’s campaign headquarters is still preserved as are most of the things that were there as Carter rose to fame first as Governor and then as President. A few other things to see while in Plains, Georgia: The Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, which is at the high school he attended; Jimmy Carter Boyhood Farm; Maranantha Baptist Church where the Carters attended church; and Rosalynn Carter’s childhood home.
There are a few other tourist attractions, but it is a very small town and there are not a lot of public restrooms or places to buy a soda or coffee.
We went to the Maranatha Baptist Church, that the former 39th President and Rosalyn attended. Jimmy Carter has mentioned his church many times.
How do you get to Plains, Georgia?
