Jimmy Carter’s funeral services begin today. Here’s what’s planned

The six-day funeral ceremony for former US President Jimmy Carter begins today, Saturday, in Georgia, where he died on December 29 at the age of 100.

The early events reflect Carter’s rise up the political ladder, from the small town of Plains, Georgia, to decades on the world stage as a humanitarian and advocate for democracy.

Here’s what to know about the initial ceremonies and what happens next:

Honoring Carter’s rural Georgia roots

Proceedings are scheduled to begin at 10:15 a.m. ET Saturday with the Carter family arriving at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, a small city located about 17 kilometers east of Plains.

Former Secret Service agents who protected Carter will serve as pallbearers, walking alongside the casket as it exits campus on its way into the city.

James Earl Carter Jr. lived more than 80 of his 100 years in and around the Plains, which still has a population of fewer than 700 people, not much more than when he was born on October 1, 1924. Presidents Richard Nixon , Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton also grew up in rural areas, but Carter has the distinction of returning and staying in his hometown throughout his long presidency.

The procession will move through downtown Plains, which extends just a few blocks, passing near the childhood home of First Lady Rosalynn Smith Carter, who died in November 2023 at age 96, and near where the couple ran the family peanut warehouse. The route also includes the old train depot that served as the headquarters for Jimmy Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign and the gas station once operated by Carter’s younger brother Billy.

The procession will then pass the Methodist Church where the Carters were married in 1946, and the house where they lived and died. The former president will be buried there alongside Rosalyn.

The Carters built the one-story house, now surrounded by a Secret Service fence, before his first state Senate campaign in 1962, and they lived out their lives there except for four years in the Governor’s Mansion and another four years in the White House.

A combination of excellence and hard work

The Army-run schedule calls for a stop at 10:50 a.m. ET in front of the Carter family farm and childhood home in Archery, outside Plains, after passing the cemetery where the former president’s parents — father James Earl Carter Sr., whose name was Earl — are located. and mother Lillian Carter – buried.

The farm is now part of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park. The National Park Service will ring the Old Farm Bell 39 times to honor the 39th president.

Carter was the first president to be born in a hospital. But the house had no electricity or running water when he was born, and he worked his father’s land during the Great Depression. However, the Carter family enjoyed relative privilege and status.

Earl Carter employed black tenant farming families. The elder Carter also owned a store in Plains and was a local civic and political leader. Lillian was a nurse and gave birth to Rosalyn. The estate still includes a tennis court built by the earl for the family.

It was Earl’s death in 1953 that set Jimmy on his path to the Oval Office. The younger Carter had left Plains after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. But Jimmy gave up a promising career as a submarine officer and early participant in the Pentagon’s nuclear program to take over the family peanut business after his father died. Within a decade, he was elected to the Georgia State Senate.

Lying in comfort in Atlanta

From the archery, the procession will travel approximately 250 kilometers north to Atlanta. She will pause at 3 p.m. ET at the Georgia Capitol, where he served as a state senator from 1963 to 1967 and governor from 1971 to 1975. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Andre Deakins will observe a moment of silence. While former governors are honored with state-run funerals, presidents – even if they are governors – are commemorated through national rites administered by the federal government.

The motorcade is then scheduled to arrive at the Carter Presidential Center at 3:45 p.m., with a special service at 4 p.m. The campus includes the Carter Presidential Library and the Carter Center, which was established by the former president and first lady in 1982.

From 7 p.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Monday, Carter will lie still and pay his respects to the public around the clock.

The ceremony is expected to include some of the Carter Center’s 3,000 global staff, whose work focuses on international diplomacy, mediation, election monitoring and disease control in the developing world, continuing to set the standard for what former presidents can accomplish.

Jimmy Carter, who reported annually through 2019, won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize in part for his post-presidential work. His grandson, Jason Carter, now chairs the board.

Back to Washington

Carter’s remains will then travel to Washington, where they will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until his funeral at 10 a.m. Thursday at Washington National Cathedral. All living presidents have been invited, and Joe Biden, a Carter ally, will deliver a eulogy.

Finally, the Carter family will return to bury their patriarch on the plains after a private funeral in his hometown at 3:45 p.m. at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Carter, a devout evangelical, taught Sunday school for decades.

Carter will then be buried in a private graveside ceremony, in a plot of land that can be seen from his front porch.