Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye began on Saturday in south Georgia, where the 39th US president’s life began more than 100 years ago.
A motorcade with Carter’s flag-draped casket is heading to his hometown of Plains and past his boyhood home on the way to Atlanta. The procession began at the Phoebe Sumter medical center in Americus, where former Secret Service agents who had protected the late president served as pallbearers. A mournful train whistle filled the clear air as the pallbearers turned to face the hearse for a final goodbye, their hands on their hearts.
The Carter family, including the former president’s four children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, are accompanying their patriarch as his six-day state funeral begins.
The longest-lived US president, Carter died at his home in Plains on 29 December at the age of 100.
Jimmy Carter’s casket on the way to Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 January 2025 in Preston, Georgia. Photograph: Sam Wolfe/Reuters Families lined the procession route in downtown Plains, near the historic train depot where Carter headquartered his 1976 presidential campaign. Some carried bouquets of flowers or wore commemorative pins bearing Carter’s photo.
“We want to pay our respects,” said 12-year-old Will Porter Shelbrock, who was born more than three decades after Carter left the White House in 1981. “He was ahead of his time on what he tried to do and tried to accomplish.”
It was Shelbrock’s idea to make the trip to Plains from Gainesville, Florida, with his grandmother, Susan Cone, 66, so they could witness the start of Carter’s final journey. Shelbrock said he admires Carter for his humanitarian work building houses and waging peace, and for installing solar panels on the White House.
The procession moves through downtown Plains, Georgia. Photograph: Mike Stewart/AP Carter and his late wife, Rosalynn, who died in November 2023, were born in Plains and lived most of their lives in and around the town, with the exceptions of Jimmy’s navy career and his terms as Georgia governor and US president.
The procession will stop in front of Carter’s home on his family farm just outside of Plains. The National Park Service will ring the old farm bell 39 times to honor his place as the 39th president. Carter’s remains then will proceed to Atlanta for a moment of silence in front of the Georgia capitol and a ceremony at the Carter Presidential Center.
There, Carter’s body will lie in repose until Tuesday morning, when it will be transported to Washington to lie in state at the US Capitol. His state funeral is Thursday at 10am at Washington National Cathedral, followed by a return to Plains for an invitation-only funeral at Maranatha Baptist church.
He will be buried near his home, next to Rosalynn.