98-year-old former President Jimmy Carter is in hospice care at his home in Georgia, surrounded by family.
Jimmy Carter Spends Remaining Days with His Family
Former President Jimmy Carter is 98 years old as he enters hospice care at home, at his request, after a “series of short hospital stays,” according to the Carter Center. He has had brain bleeding from recent falls and has just undergone a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain.
The country’s 39th president, Jimmy Carter, who had in recent years suffered from various medical incidents, including a bout with melanoma, has opted to receive hospice care at his Georgia home for the remainder of his life.
This past Saturday, the church where Carter, 98, taught Sunday School for decades and The Carter Center announced that the former president would stop further “medical intervention” and enter into hospice care.
“After a series of short hospital stays, former President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” a statement shared by the church and The Carter Center noted.
Locals Comment on “Mr. Jimmy”
“To me, he’s a friend. To a lot of us here, he’s just a churchgoer that sits on the same pews,” said Zac Steele, one of the lay leaders of Maranatha Baptist Church, the congregation where Carter long taught Sunday school lessons until his health declined.
For the last half-century, the people in Plains, Georgia love to tell visitors they have a pair of famous exports: peanuts and a peanut farmer-turned-president.
Locals see him as one of their own because, well, he is. He presided for years over the town’s annual Peanut Parade from the balcony of the Plains Historic Inn, cheerfully handing out awards to the proud farmers showing off their antique tractors.
Jimmy Carter’s Impact
Carter was a peanut farmer and US Navy lieutenant before going into politics. The Democrat eventually served one term as governor of Georgia and as president of the United States from 1977 to 1981.
In his post-presidency years, Carter founded The Carter Center along with his wife, Rosalynn, in hopes of advancing world peace and health. The center has worked to advance democracy by monitoring foreign elections and reducing diseases in developing countries over the years.
He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his efforts to push for peace across the globe, and was a longtime volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.
Despite the health challenges in recent years, Carter credits his marriage to his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, for his longevity.
“It’s hard to live until you’re 95 years old,” he told People Magazine in 2019, a few weeks after his second fall. “I think the best explanation for that is to marry the best spouse, someone who will take care of you and engage and do things to challenge you and keep you alive and interested in life.”
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