Something no one can live without. Wow is there for our customers with reliability, value, and choice. It all starts with great internet. Announcer wow sports cspan as a Public Service along with these her providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. Announcer President Biden was among several highprofile figures to attend a tribute ceremony for former first Lady Rosalynn carter in atlanta. During the Service Several speakers, including her son, reflected on her life and accomplishments. Mrs. Carter died at the age of 96 at her home in plains georgia. O beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain for Purple Mountain magesties above the fruited plains America America god shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea o beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life America America may god thy gold refine till all success be nobleness and every gain define o beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears America America god shed his grace on thee please be seated. With the president of Emory University and the congregation of glenn memorial United Methodist church, i welcome you to this space and this hour. As we praise god and give thanks for the life of Rosalynn Smith carter. We also surround this family with love as they mourn the loss of a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother. Friends, let us affirm together the faith rosalynn lived so beautifully, death, though real, does not have the last word. And gods love is greater than any foe. And the way of service and grace in this world is the way of eternal life. Even now. Let us pray. Oh, mighty god, we step away from the demands of the day to give thanks for the life of your child rosalynn. We celebrate 96 years of faith and love, but we rejoice in moments shared with her, memories cherished now as treasures. In this hour renew our spirit with your spirit that we like rosalynn might in courage and grace do justice, love, kindness, and walk humbly with you throughout our days, in the name of jesus christ we pray, amen. Maya angelou wrote when great trees fall. When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder and lions hunker down in tall grasses, and elephants lumber after safety. When great trees falls in the forest, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us become light, rare, and sterile. We breathe briefly, our eyes of fields of hurtful clarity and our memory suddenly sharpens, examines the words unsaid and promises of walks never taken. But did you know that in isaiah, chapter 40, verse 28 says, do you not know and have you not heard the lord is the everlasting god, the creator of the earth. He will not grow tired and weary in his understanding no one can fathom. He gives us strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. And even youth grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall. Heres where i shout and get happy, for those who hope in the lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not go weary. They will walk and not faint. Im going to have chip carter come and tell you about a great soul. Chip i want to welcome all of you here and thank you for coming to help my family and to mourn with my family, and mostly just celebrate a life well lived. My mother was the glue that held our family together, through the ups and downs and thicks and thins of our familys politics. As individuals, she believed in us and took care of us. When i was 14, i supported president johnson for president. And every day i wore a johnson sticker on my shirt. And periodically i would get beat up and my shirt torn and the buttons pulled off and my sticker always destroyed. And i would walk the block during lunch from school down to carters warehouse and my mother would have a shirt in a drawer already mended, button sewn on and the l. B. J. Sticker still applied. Years later, she was influential in getting me into rehab for my drug and alcohol addiction. She saved my life. When i started making speeches for dad in his political career, i was so nervous, i often vomited in the waiting room before we went onstage. And one day after debating seven other children of offspring of candidates for president , i called my mother and told her how nervous i got, and she told me something that i have used a thousands times since, she said, chip, you can do anything for 20 minutes except hold your breath. [laughter] chip when i was in the second grade at Plains High School, they had a donkey basketball game in the stadium in the School Building there to raise money for the school. And my mother rode her donkey as fast as it would slowly go right under the goal, spun around so she was facing its tail, caught the pass and made the winning two points. She was my hero that night, and shes been my hero ever since. A couple years ago, mom and i were talking, when she said that when dad asked her to marry her for the second time, she said yes. But she expected him to provide for her a life of adventure. He told her it would happen. She told me that she has lived on both coasts and hawaii while in the navy and began her family. Mom said when it was decided they would leave the navy and move back to lanes, that she was upset. And the family story is that they rode in a car from connecticut to plains, georgia, and when mom had something to say to dad, she would say, jack, would you tell your father when dad ran for office the first time my mother ran carters warehouse, she loved it. When he went for a Campaign Trip or during the legislative session, she was really pleased to be in the office and be the boss. She told me that when dad started running for president that the thing she enjoyed the most were the people that she met across the country, and that from working in carters warehouse, she said, i was able to speak the languages and prices and yields and relate to everyday issues and farm families especially in iowa. She said because of that, shes the one that helped win that election there. Then as first lady of the United States, always trying to follow the teaching of jesus and to do what he taught her to do as a guideline. She said, you will always get criticized by somebody for everything you do, so you might as well do it right. She and dad were able to make a positive difference in peoples lives and that of so many families, too. My parents 77year partnership is often talked about. Mom was always well informed on the issues of the day. In the white house, mom asked dad so many questions, that he finally said, she should attend cabinet meetings, so she did and caught a lot of flak for that. But she was then able to speak with authority on issues across our country and the world. She would often try and often fail to get dad to do what was right politically. When she couldnt change her dads mind, she would repeat to herself, a leader takes people where they want to go, a great leader takes people where they need to go. Losing the election in 1980 was devastating to us all. My parents were still young, my mother only 53. And they knew they still had more to contribute. She decided they would become missionaries and spent months trying to decide how to accomplish their goal. Finally, they decided as partners to start the Carter Center, which would allow my mother to continue to fight the stigma of Mental Illness and allow them both to help the poorest of the poor on this earth as jesus had taught them. Mom started the Rosalynn Carter institute for caregivers at Georgia Southwestern University to train and support those who help others. At the same time mom and dad continued to support habitat for humanity and mom continued to support the friendship force. She told me that her adventures had led her to more than 120 countries. She had been flyfishing all over the world. She had met kings and queens, president s, others in authority, powerful Corporate Leaders and celebrities. She said the people she felt the most comfortable with and the people she enjoyed being with the most were those that lived in absolute abject poverty, the ones without adequate housing, without a proper diet, and without access to health care. She said daddy kept his word, and she had probably had more adventures than anybody else on earth. Mama is always fun to be with. On the halloween before the pandemic, mom showed up at amys house. Amy lives on a street which closes down on halloween and every house is decorated. Mom was beautifully dressed as a Monarch Butterfly. The secret service were dressed in casually but perfectly as secret service agents. She proceeded to go up and down the street with her great grandchildren and go trickortreating up and down and talk to people all over the street. She got back to amys and was so excited because she had been out so much and nobody had recognized her. After dad was put in hospice, my mother was ripe with dementia. My siblings, my wife, and i would stay with them so there would always be a Family Member around. One day my mother was sitting with my wife, becky, and she was reminiscing on what it was like to go and live in hawaii. And she was talking about learning all the native dances, and she got up from the sofa, pushed her walker away, which she couldnt take a step without and proceeded to do the hula for two or three minutes. She grabbed her walker, turned around and sat back on the sofa and turned to my wife and said thats how you do it. I will always love my mother. I will cherish how she and dad raised their children. Theyd given us such a great example of how a couple should relate. Let me finish by saying that my mother, Rosalynn Carter, was the most beautiful woman ive ever met and pretty to look at, too. Thank you. [applause] thank you, chip. Next well have the reading of the lords prayer. Would you read it with me, please. Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, our kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespass as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the glory and power and the glory forever, amen. Blessed assurance jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine heir of salvation, purchase of god born of his spirit washed in his blood this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long a reading from the book of phillippians 4 15, i can do all things in christ who strengthens me. President biden, dr. Biden, president carter, jack, chip, jeff, amy, very distinguished guests and friends, Rosalynn Carter was my boss and became my very good friends. She hired me to direct her projects office at the white house and kept me busy as her volunteer ever since. We shared so many special times together, shopping for beads in a market in ghana, popping in unannounced to a Peer Support Program in americas georgia. Bird watching at the Carter Center. What a remarkable woman she was. Wife, mother, business manager, political strategist, diplomat, advocate, author, yet what i remember most about her was her tireless dedication to taking care of others. She was often found recalling the time that Margaret Mead came to visit her in the white house. Dr. Mead said to her then, our success as a society and our value as individuals must be measured by the passion we show for the most vulnerable among us. In many ways, dr. Mead had captured the very essence of Rosalynn Carter. The issues that claimed her time and attention, Mental Health, support for caregivers, fighting tropical diseases, even building latrines to stop the spread of a blinding eye disease. These were not sexy causes but brought leadership to projects that affected many. She was boundless and her passion for action even more so. I shall never forget the day as first lady she decided to personally visit the refugee camps in thailand where thousands of cambodians lay desperately ill and dying. I have to do something, she said. Rosalynn was determined to help. The doctors in the camps called her the yankee angel because she brought hope where there had been none. As a result of her efforts, a Broad Coalition came together and raised tens of millions of dollars for refugee relief. Her tenure as first lady of the United States was just one chapter in a life that was really devoted to caring and doing good for others. With president carter, she founded the Carter Center as one of the worlds foremost humanitarian organizations. She invited me one year to join her on a trip promoting guinea worm eradication in north africa. In a small village in northern ghana she insisted i meet a little boy being treated in a containment center. You have to see the worm, she said. You have to see how much suffering it causes. The alleviation of suffering has been a intrigal part of rosalynns life for as long as ive known her. While campaigning for her husband early one morning at a factory gate, a woman covered in cotton dust approached her. What is your husband going to do as governor of georgia to help my daughter suffering from Mental Illness . Thus began her more than 50year career as a Mental Health advocate, lobbying for her husband, then the United States congress, and finally later, the w. H. O. To increase support for Mental Health. When students at her alma mater, georgia southwestern, documented the isolation, the stress, and burnout that afflicted so many caregivers in their community, she lent her support to the creation of the Rosalynn Carter institute for caregivers. Today its a national advocate for programs to build resilience and strength and families navigating the daunting challenges of caring for loved ones, a challenge that her own family confronted with grace these last few years. Even the plight of the Monarch Butterfly did not escape rosalynns attention. Threatened by loss of habitat and alarming decline, the monarch needed an advocate and who better than rosalynn. She first started with her garden in plains and then she created a butterfly trail across georgia, and finally she wrote Michelle Obama that the butterfly needed a garden on the white house grounds. A short time later there was a garden on the south lawn. What a remarkable life she led. Born at a time and a place where segregation was the norm. As a young wife she joined the fight against Racial Discrimination in her church and her community, raised during an era when opportunities for women were limited at best, she became an ardent advocate for the equal rights amendment. She ensured that women were well represented in the senior ranks of government, and she even successfully lobbies her husband for equal pay for her east wing staff, something for which i will always be grateful. Married at 18 and the mother of three little boys by the age of 25, she became an invaluable Business Partner in the peanut warehouse operation. When jimmy carter decided to run for the state Senate Without consulting her, the last time he ever did that, she still pitched in as a key campaigner and political strategist, a role in which she excelled in the years that followed. She served our country as one of its most activist and accomplished first ladies. Her legacy is defined not only by her work in Mental Health but also by the multiple roles she played at jimmy carters closest adviser. Personal emissary to the leaders of several latin american countries, consultant on his most important speeches, lobbyist for key legislative initiatives, and spokesperson on controversial policy matters. Once, as she departed for iowa just two days after the grain embargo had been announced, she quipped, i happen to always be the first one out after a major decision or happening, but its interesting. Whether it was the mideast peace negotiations at camp david or planning strategy for the Democratic Convention in 1980, rosalynn was present and a full participant. She loved her time in washington and was very sad to leave, but she returned to georgia ready to pursue her passion to, as she once said, use my influence to give voice to those who may be powerless and persuade the powerful to listen. As i had the privilege of knowing rosalynn over the years, i was constantly reminded that for her, life was truly about helping others and finding joy in the simple act of service. She never sought fame, fortune or accolades for the work that she did, though her accomplishments have been widely recognized and honored. In so many different ways, she promoted a more caring society. A number of years ago at the end of an interview with jon stewart then of the daily show. He said you are truly one of the good people in this world. Today we find a remarkable person, one of the truly good people in the world. May those of us who loved her as a friend on her her life by building a legacy of caring deeply for the most vulnerable among us. [applause] a reading from the book of psalms, may the words of my mouth and meditatio