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Honoring Rosalynn Carter's legacy
Wednesday was a somber day in the small southwest Georgia city of Plains, where former first lady Rosalynn Carter was laid to rest. Even though the world has said their goodbyes, her work and legacy will live on.
PLAINS, Ga. - Former first lady Rosalynn Carter’s funeral Wednesday in Plains was a formal goodbye, but the Carter Center says her life’s work will not stop.
"Her legacy is everything we do and moving forward, we're going to continue with her vision and President Carter's for what The Carter Center can be and the way that we can help people around the world," said Laura Neuman, a Senior Advisor at The Carter Center.
Neuman has worked with the Carters for years as they worked on their projects in the United States and around the world.
"I think what will really live on is both her and, of course, President Carter's vision for the world that we want to create and to just make sure that we are always looking at how to support those who are the most marginalized," she said.
Eleanor Rosalynn Smith was born on August 18, 1927, in Plains, Georgia, the daughter of Allethea Murray and Edgar Smith. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) The eldest of four children, Rosalynn helped raise her siblings after her father died when she was 13 years old. This portrait, circa 1939, was taken when she was 12. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) A member of the Plains High School Victory Corps, Rosalynn Carter (center) and her classmates show support for the troops during World War II. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) This photo was taken on July 7, 1946, when Rosalynn Smith and Jimmy Carter were married in Plains, Georgia. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Rosalynn Smith Carter with her family in Plains, Georgia, in 1951: (l to r) her sister, Allethea; her mother, Allie, holding Rosalynn’s son Chip Carter; her brother Murray; Rosalynn with her eldest son, Jack Carter, her brother Jerry, her grandfather Captain Murray. Many said Rosalynn Carter was Jimmy Carter’s best campaign asset in races for state senate, governor of Georgia, and the U.S. presidency. Here they celebrate his 1970 election win to become Georgia’s 76th governor. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter had four children. Jack, Chip, and Jeff Carter were born while the Carters were stationed in different Navy ports. Amy was born in 1967, after the family had moved back to Plains, Georgia. This photo of Rosalynn with Amy is circa 1970. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Jeff, Jack, Rosalynn, Jimmy, and Chip Carter (l to r) pose for a photo before the governor’s inaugural ball in January 1971. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Just like former president Jimmy Carter, Neuman says Mrs. Carter had her hands on everything the Carter Center did, and she helped shape their policy goals.
"I want to know what you’re gonna do for people with mental illnesses when you're Governor of Georgia," Mrs. Carter asked her husband while he was a candidate.
After Jimmy Carter was sworn in as the 39th President of the United States, the Carters surprised onlookers when they left their car and walked down Pennsylvania Avenue during the inaugural parade on Jan. 20, 1977. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) President Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter are shown here waving to inaugural ball guests on the evening of January 20, 1977. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Rosalynn Carter was the first First Lady to carry a briefcase to her office in the East Wing each day and established the Office of the First Lady’s Projects. Here she is with her personal assistant, Madeline MacBean, on March 17, 1977. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library First Lady Rosalynn Carter traveled to seven Latin American countries as the president’s official envoy, engaging directly with their leaders to improve ties with the United States. Here she speaks at a welcoming ceremony in San Jose, Costa Rica, on June 1, 1977. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Rosalynn Carter was a strong proponent of the Equal Rights Amendment. On the right is former First Lady Betty Ford, at the National Women’s Conference in support of the ERA on November 19, 1977. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Mrs. Carter holds a baby while Amy Carter looks on in Lagos, Nigeria, on April 2, 1978, during the first visit by a seated U.S. president to sub-Saharan Africa. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) As active honorary chair of the President’s Commission on Mental Health, Rosalynn Carter presented President Carter with the commission’s recommendations for sweeping reforms to mental health policy and programs on April 27, 1978. The report led to The Mental Health Systems Act of 1980. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) President and Mrs. Carter visit one of the locks along the Panama Canal on June 17, 1978, the day after the president participated in a signing ceremony for the Panama Canal treaties his administration brokered. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Rosalynn Carter talks with Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Carter on September 7, 1978, during negotiations between Egypt and Israel at Camp David. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Rosalynn Carter testifies on behalf of the President’s Commission on Mental Health before the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources on February 7, 1979. She was the second first lady to appear before Congress. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) President and Mrs. Carter on a train to Alexandria, Egypt, during a trip to the Middle East on March 9, 1979. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) White House portrait of Rosalynn Carter taken on August 16, 1979. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Mrs. Carter raised tens of millions of dollars to ease the plight of refugees. Here she holds a child at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand, November 9, 1979. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) MORE: FULL COVERAGE OF THE TRIBUTES AND MEMORIALS FOR FORMER FIRST LADY ROSALYNN CARTER
One of the former first lady’s crowning achievements has been her work on mental healthcare and her push for parity in coverage so people can get the same care as they do for physical health.
"That was an area that she has pioneered and focused on and highlighted since President Carter was running for governor and that will absolutely continue." Neuman said.
After leaving the White House, Rosalynn Carter co-founded Every Child By Two (known today as Vaccinate Your Family) to raise awareness nationwide of the need for childhood immunizations by age two. This photo was taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1993. (Credit: The Carter Center) Former First Ladies Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford joined bipartisan forces to testify in the U.S. Senate and speak at the National Press Club on March 7, 1994, calling for comprehensive mental health and substance use insurance benefits. (Credit: The Carter Center) Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter traveled to North Korea in June 1994 for talks with then-President Kim Il-Sung resulting in an eight-year freeze of that nation’s nuclear weapons program. (Credit: The Carter Center) Former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton at a ceremony at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, August 9, 1999. (Credit: The Carter Center) Rosalynn Carter observes voting at an Indonesian polling station in June 1999 during the nation’s first genuinely democratic legislative elections, which were monitored by The Carter Center. (Credit: The Carter Center) Rosalynn Carter visits Abriendo Puertas, an Annie E. Casey Mental Health Initiative for Urban Children, Miami, Florida, 1999. (Credit: The Carter Center) In 2001, Rosalynn Carter became only the third first lady ever inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, joining Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt. "Her life-long work on behalf of women, children, and the mentally ill is a living testament to her vision and character," said Marilyn Bero, National Women’s Hall of Fame president. (Credit: National Women’s Hall of Fame) Rosalynn Carter receives flowers from a Cuban woman while touring Old Havana in May 2002 during a trip with former President Jimmy Carter to urge the United States and Cuban governments to mend relations.(Credit: The Carter Center) President and Mrs. Carter are surrounded by their children and grandchildren on a family vacation in Fort Myers, Florida, in December 2004. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Library) Election observers Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter prepare for poll closing procedures during elections in Monrovia, Liberia, on October 11, 2005. (Credit: The Carter Center) Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter wear traditional Ghanaian attire during a visit to Northern Ghana to view Carter Center health campaigns to eradicate Guinea worm disease and eliminate trachoma, on February 8, 2007. (Credit: The Carter Center) A young Nigerian girl presents Mrs. Carter with flowers of welcome during the Feb. 15, 2007, tour of health work in the community of Nasarawa. (Credit: The Carter Center) On July 10, 2007, Rosalynn Carter testified before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee in favor of the Wellstone Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, calling for mental illnesses to be covered by insurance on par with physical illnesses. (Credit: The Carter Center) For more than three decades, President and Mrs. Carter led annual week-long Carter Work Projects for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps to build and renovate homes for those in need. Rosalynn Carter is pictured here carrying a truss in Pascagoula, Miss., in 2008. (Credit: Habitat for Humanity) The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia, was established in the former first lady’s honor to provide support and resources for the many unsung heroines and heroes who are family and professional caregivers. (Credit: Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers) The statue of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter sits outside two buildings dedicated in her honor at Georgia Southwestern State University, her alma mater and home of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers. (Credit: Georgia Southwestern State University) Portrait of Rosalynn Carter at The Carter Center, 1993. (Credit: The Carter Center) Mith Mrs. Carter’s job now done, her work will live on in the people at the center that bears her and her husband’s name.
"For many of us who had the privilege to work and travel and learn from her, our job now is to carry that on," Neuman said.