Reflecting on the impact of Jimmy, Rosalynn Carter in the Charlotte community
The former first lady passed away on Sunday afternoon in Georgia.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - The country is in mourning after news of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter’s passing on Sunday.
Officials said she died with her family by her side in Georgia. She was the wife of the oldest living president, Jimmy Carter, who she was married to for 77 years.
On Friday, the Carter Center announced the former first lady had entered hospice care after being diagnosed with dementia in May. She died just two days later at the age of 96. The former president has also been in hospice care since February.
The Carter family had an incredible impact on families all over the country and was involved with Habitat for Humanity, which works in all 50 states and more than 70 countries.
The organization has helped more than 46 million people have safe and affordable housing, many of them in the Charlotte community. Just last month, the Carter build off Morris Field Drive in west Charlotte wrapped up. Dozens of families were given brand-new homes.
Hundreds of volunteers gathered for the build, with country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood standing in place of the former president and first lady. It marked the second time the Carter Work Project has come to the Queen City, the first coming in 1989.
The impact the Carters made was not lost on those who gathered here in Charlotte.
“There’s no way I can overestimate how important their work has been and will continue to be,” Yearwood said.
“President Carter believed as long as there’s one person on this planet without a roof over their head, Habitat’s job is not done,” Brooks said last month. “I have to agree with that.”
Habitat for Humanity tweeted about Mrs. Carter’s death, saying she was a compassionate an committed champion of Habitat for Humanity and worked fiercely to help families around the world.
Habitat has an online memory book you can sign here.
Next Monday, there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Georgia Southwestern State University in her memory, followed by a ceremony at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.
A tribute service will follow on Tuesday at Emory University, with a funeral happening the following day in Plains, Ga.
Related: Rosalynn Carter, outspoken former first lady, dead at 96
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