Former President Jimmy Carter’s Farewell Ceremonies Start

Jimmy Carter’s homegoing rites will begin on Saturday, when his loved ones and supporters will start saying farewell.

Carter’s family gathered at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia, around 10:15 a.m. ET on Saturday to begin the state funeral proceedings. After that, the deceased president’s Secret Service detail will transport his coffin to a hearse. Carter’s lifelong home of Plains, Georgia, will be traversed by a motorcade, which will stop at his family farm on route to the Georgia State Capitol for a minute of silence.

Carter, who had previously served as governor and in the Georgia Senate, was not well-known in the country when he was elected in 1976. After losing in 1980, he went back to Georgia and established the Carter Center, which focused on concerns of global democracy and public health. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, devoted their time to a variety of humanitarian endeavors after his time in the White House, including years of voluntary work with Habitat for Humanity.

Carter will lay in rest from 7 p.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Tuesday, with a public visitation following the funeral service, which will begin at the Center at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday. From 7 p.m. on Tuesday to 7 a.m. on Thursday, his remains will be moved to Washington, D.C., to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol.

After a National Funeral Service at the Washington National Cathedral, Carter returns to Georgia for a private funeral and burial at the family home, capping up his final voyage.

Carter died immediately before the new year on Sunday, December 29, 2024, at the age of 100.