Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter Diagnosed With Dementia
The Carter family is giving a health update on the former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
More than three months after President Jimmy Carter, 98, entered hospice care, it was revealed that Rosalynn, 95, has been diagnosed with dementia.
"Mrs. Carter has been the nation's leading mental health advocate for much of her life," a statement released by the nonprofit organization The Carter Center May 30 read. "First in the Georgia Governor's Mansion, then in the White House, and later at The Carter Center, she urged improved access to care and decreased stigma about issues surrounding mental health."
The group went on to detail why they felt it was important to share Rosalynn's diagnosis.
"One in 10 older Americans have dementia, a condition that affects overall mental health," the statement continued. "We recognize, as she did more than half a century ago, that stigma is often a barrier that keeps individuals and their families from seeking and getting much-needed support. We hope sharing our family's news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor's offices around the country."
On Feb. 18, the Carter family announced that President Carter, who is the longest living president in U.S. history, decided to spend his remaining time at hospice care at home.
"After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention," their statement read. "He has the full support of his family and his medical team."
The group added, "The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers."
President Carter and Rosalynn tied the knot in 1946 and the two share four children together—John William "Jack" Carter, James Earl "Chip" Carter III, Donnel Jeffrey "Jeff" Carter and Amy Carter.
At the time of President Carter's decision to enter hospice, his grandson Jason Carter—Jack's son—took to Twitter to thank the public for their support.
"I saw both of my grandparents yesterday," the tweet read. "They are at peace and—as always—their home is full of love. Thank you all for your kind words."
To revisit President Carter and Rosalynn's love story, keep scrolling…
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter could share a private moment anywhere, even in front of thousands of people at the Democratic National Convention in 1976.
Along with his mother, Jimmy and Rosalynn were joined at the DNC here by daughter Amy Lynn Carter, their eldest son, John William "Jack" Carter, and third son Donnel Jeffrey "Jeff" Carter with his wife Annette Davis.
The couple, watching the returns with family in Atlanta, embraced on Election Night in 1976 upon finding out that Carter was going to be the 39th president of the United States.
The president and first lady put their best feet forward at a series of inaugural balls following Jimmy's swearing-in on Jan. 20, 1977. Rosalynn raised some eyebrows by recycling the same Mary Matise for Jimmae gown she wore to her husband's 1971 gubernatorial inauguration balls, but she had her husband's full support, Jimmy writing in A Full Life that he was "very proud of her beauty and grace."
Daughter Amy Lynn Carter was 9 when she and her Siamese cat Misty Malarky Ying Yang and dog Grits moved into the White House in January 1977.
Jimmy was the first sitting president since Theodore Roosevelt (and no president has done it since) to send his child to public school, enrolling Amy at Thaddeus Stevens Elementary School in Washington, D.C.
But if there had been an Internet, this would have been a meme: During his one debate with Republican challenger Ronald Reagan in October 1980, President Carter invoked his then-13-year-old when he said, "I had a discussion the other day with my daughter Amy before I came here to ask me what the important issue was. She said she thought nuclear weaponry and the control of nuclear arms."
Let's just say, the other side had a little fun with that, with Reagan supporters in Milwaukee chanting "Amy! Amy!" two days later when the candidate delivered a speech. "I remember when Patti and Ron were tiny kids," the future 36th president quipped. "We used to talk about nuclear power."
"Ask Amy" bumper stickers became a quick moneymaker for Republican groups, and she even made The Tonight Show, host Johnny Carson joking, "This will be a significant monologue because I asked Amy Carter what she thought were the most important issues to make jokes about."
The Carters may have had a young daughter but they also had three daughters-in-law by the time Jimmy became president, and most of the family moved to Washington.
Jack and wife Juliette "Judy" Langford stayed in Georgia, where they had welcomed son Jason James Carter on Aug. 7, 1975, and where daughter Sarah Rosemary would be born Dec. 19, 1978. (After their divorce, Jack married mother of two Elizabeth Brasfield on May 15, 1992.)
The Carters' second son, James Earl "Chip" Carter III, worked for the Democratic National Committee in Washington while his dad was in office and moved into the White House with wife Caron Griffin, who was eight months pregnant on Inauguration Day. Still, she strolled along the parade route with the rest of the family for a few blocks when the president and first lady made the unprecedented move to walk the whole mile and a half from the Capitol to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
"People along the parade route, when they saw that we were walking, began to cheer and weep," Jimmy later wrote, "and it was an emotional experience for us as well."
Chip and Caron's son, James Earl Carter IV, was born Feb. 25, 1977. That August it was announced that Chip was returning to Plains but his wife and child would be staying with the first family, and he and Caron confirmed their separation in 1978. Chip later married Ginger Hodges, with whom he welcomed daughter Margaret Alicia Carter on Sept. 23, 1987.
Chip's been married to third wife Becky Payne since 2001.
The Carters' third son, Jeff, married his college sweetheart Annette Davis on April 6, 1975, and they moved into the White House, too, while he was attending George Washington University.
Jeff and Annette eventually had three sons, Joshua Jeffrey (b. 1984), Jeremy Davis (1987-2015) and James Carlton (b. 1991), and were together until her death on Sept. 19, 2021.
Rosalynn was her husband's number-one confidante when he was president—and forever after.
"It's a full partnership," Carter told the AP in 2021 of his then-75-year marriage.
Jimmy and Rosalyn remain in sync at the White House in January 1979.
Amy, here with her dad in 1995, is mom to son Hugo, born in 1999, with first husband James Gregory Wentzel, and son Errol Carter Kelly with her spouse since 2007, John Joseph "Jay" Kelly.
The house Jimmy and Rosalynn built in 1961 and have lived in ever since remained the gathering spot for the whole family.
The Carters are also great-grandparents to Jason's sons, Henry and Thomas, with his wife Kate; Sarah's daughter, Josephine, with husband Brendan Keith Murphy; Margaret's daughter, Alicia, with husband Harold Edward Carter; Joshua's sons, Charles and Jonathan, with wife Sarah; and James' daughter, Rayna Rose, with wife Anna.
It's no wonder they earned the nickname "first lovebirds."
Jimmy knew a thing or two about keeping the peace.
"Every day there needs to be reconciliation and communication between the two spouses," the winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize told the AP. "We don't go to sleep with some remaining differences between us."
"Jimmy and I are always looking for things to do together," Rosalynn said, but "each [spouse] should have some space. That's really important."
"It's hard to live until you're 95 years old," Carter told People in 2019. "I think the best explanation for that is to marry the best spouse: someone who will take care of you and engage and do things to challenge you and keep you alive and interested in life."
"One of the things Jesus taught was: If you have any talents, try to utilize them for the benefit of others," Jimmy told People in 2019, discussing the nearly four decades he and his wife had spent volunteering and advocating for Habitat for Humanity. "That's what Rosa and I have both tried to do."
Though their physical involvement in construction grew more limited with time, the Carters became synonymous with the organization, which builds affordable housing and offers no-interest mortgages to buyers who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford a home.
"I think both mine and Rosa's minds are almost as good as they used to be, we just have limited capability on stamina and strength," Jimmy said. "But we still try to stay busy and do a good job at what we do."
They got so adept at wielding tools over the years, they knocked down their own bedroom wall during a later-in-life home renovation in Plains.
"By that time," Rosalynn told the Washington Post in 2018, "we had worked with Habitat so much that it was just second-nature."
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