Jimmy Carter celebrates 1st wedding anniversary after Rosalynn Carter's death
President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter dance at a White House Congressional Ball, Washington, D.C.]. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)
PLAINS, Ga. - Seventy-eight years ago on Sunday, former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter were married in their Georgia hometown. Now, after Rosalynn's passing and the former president's health struggles, their love story remains as powerful as it has ever been.
Carter, a U.S. Navy midshipman from the small Georgia town of Plains exchanged vows with a woman he'd met and fell in love with years earlier. Little did they both know that their marriage would become the longest of any presidential couple.
The two met in Georgia when Rosalynn was almost a newborn, but the two didn't really get to know each other until Jimmy came home from the U.S. Navy Academy. His younger sister set him up on a date with Rosalynn, a family friend who already had a crush on the future Georgia governor and U.S. president.
During their second diamond anniversary celebration, Rosalynn recounted how she didn’t care for dating young men while growing up and never thought she’d get married.
"I didn’t know how to talk to them, I didn’t want to go out with them," she said. She added that she used to urge her mother to tell suitors calling her on the phone that she wasn’t around.
The Carters were married in 1946.
During her husband's administration, Rosalynn became an esteemed advocate of mental health. She was active as the honorary chair of the President's Commission on Mental Health, which helped pass the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980. The law outlined rights for mental health patients to receive the protection and services they require and placed emphasis on the mental health needs of minority populations.
According to the Jimmy Carter Library, on his 75th birthday, Carter was asked to name the most important thing he had ever done. His reply: "Marrying Rosalynn."
The couple's shared journey ended Nov. 19 with Rosalynn Carter’s death at the age of 96. The former president, now 99, was with her when she died at their home in Plains, where they lived all their lives, with the exceptions of his college and Navy years, one gubernatorial term and their White House years from 1977-81.
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"Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished," Jimmy Carter said in a statement released upon her death by The Carter Center, which they co-founded in 1982 after leaving Washington. "She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me."
Her grave is within view of the front porch of the home where the 39th American president still lives. When Carter dies, he will be buried alongside her.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.