Former US first lady Rosalynn Carter lies in repose in Georgia

PLAINS - The body of former United States first lady Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov 19 at age 96, will lie in repose on Nov 27 in Georgia, giving Americans the chance to pay their respects to the woman her husband, former president Jimmy Carter, called “an extension of myself”.

Carter died shortly after she entered hospice care at home in Plains, Georgia, alongside her husband, a Democrat who gave his wife a prominent voice during his presidency from 1977 to 1981 and supported her advocacy in the cause of mental health.

Her family and current and former members of her US Secret Service security detail joined a hearse motorcade on the morning of Nov 27 to the Rosalynn Carter Health and Human Sciences Complex at Georgia South-western State University in Americus, Georgia, where wreaths were laid. Spectators in Plains waved US flags as the motorcade passed by them.

A repose service will be held in the afternoon in the lobby of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, followed by an opportunity for members of the public to view the casket and pay their respects.

A tribute church service for invited guests is scheduled for Nov 28.

On Nov 29, Carter’s funeral will be held at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains before an internment at the family residence.

Carter and her husband were the longest-married US presidential couple, having wed in 1946 when he was 21 and she was 18.

Since his single term as president ended, Mr Jimmy Carter has lived more post-White House years than any president before him, and she played an instrumental role during those years, including as work for the Carter Centre nonprofit and the Habitat for Humanity charity.

Her family disclosed in May that she had dementia. Mr Jimmy Carter, 99, entered hospice care at home in February after deciding to decline additional medical intervention. REUTERS