What Jimmy Carter meant to Americans: Public gathers to honor past president
When Jimmy Carter died last month at the age of 100, tributes poured in from family members, fellow ex-presidents and other public officials.
The world had lost “an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. Carter’s grandson posted a link to the song “Last of My Kind,” the lyrics of which say, “Try to find another just like me, You'll be looking for a real long time."
This week, the rest of America was given a chance to pay respects.
Carter lies in state at the Capitol through 7 a.m. Thursday, meaning his flag-draped casket sits at the heart of the people's house.
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Many who live in the capital city or neighboring states made the trip. Others trekked more than a thousand miles to honor the late president.
Together with his wife Rosalynn, Carter was a notorious humanitarian, as a hands-on volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and co-founder of the Carter Center. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end conflicts, monitor elections and advance human rights.
From framing how they see the role of the president to leaving a legacy of kindness and decency, members of the public shared what the century-long life of Jimmy Carter meant to them.
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Public mourners gather in Washington
Hundreds of people braved bitter cold Tuesday off the heels of a massive snow storm and waited hours to pay their respects.
A line formed outside the Capitol in the late afternoon, following a casket transfer ceremony and funeral procession. Starting around 8:30 p.m., visitors from all across the country began to gather in the Rotunda.
Lying underneath a reverent mural of George Washington, Carter’s casket was surrounded by a silent crowd of mourners and military guards.
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As she waited to enter, Sally Muhl thought about what she would say in her mind as she stood before Carter's casket. She settled on simple gratitude: “Thank you. Thank you for making a difference.”
Muhl says she doesn’t like politicians – except for Jimmy Carter.
In November of 1980, Muhl walked into a fire station in Mesquite, Texas, and cast her first ballot in a presidential election. Muhl, pregnant with her second child at the time, voted for Carter.
Though Carter lost decisively to Republican Ronald Reagan that year, Muhl kept up with Carter’s work out of the White House. She also got involved herself and volunteered at Habitat.
In 2014, she briefly met Carter when he helped build a family home for the nonprofit in Dallas, Texas. She recalled he had shaken hands with everyone who showed up and kindly asked them where they were from.
“It was just amazing,” she said through tears outside the Capitol.
Sitting atop the mantle in her living room is a group photo from that day, with Carter at the center of the group wearing a red bandana around his neck and a pair of blue jeans.
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1,300 miles to Washington
Peggy Johnson and Preston White were there Tuesday upholding a promise they had made one another two years ago, which was to pay tribute to Carter in person after his passing.
The friends flew from Oklahoma City to Washington to do so.
Johnson, a 66-year-old retired postal worker, revered Carter since he became governor of her home state of Georgia in 1971.
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In college, she wrote a paper about his successful ascension to the governorship. And when American diplomats were taken hostage in Iran in 1979, she enlisted in the Navy, the same military branch Carter had served in.
White said he respected Carter for his strong character and everyday decency.
“He did incredible things, but he still taught Sunday school at an itty-bitty church,” he said.
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Lauren and Phyllis Sylvester, mother and daughter, came together to pay their respects Wednesday morning. Phyllis Sylvester lives in Brookeville, Md., about 30 miles north of Washington, and drove down to join her daughter, a DC resident.
The 71-year-old said it was important to take the time to honor a man like Carter.
“I think people were just so impressed with his humanity, his love of the country. He cared about the people... Just a wonderful human being,” said Phyllis Sylvester, who voted for Carter in her twenties.
Along with being privy to a rare national event, Lauren Sylvester, 36, said she was there because of her mother's admiration for the late president.
"We were just discussing how I don’t know too, too much about it (his presidency), but she’s been sharing some things, and it just seems kind of like a stark contrast from what we have today,” Lauren Sylvester said of Carter’s distaste for the pomp and circumstance of executive office.
“It just seems like it was always country first, people first, and not so much focused on his own self-interest.”
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While the efficacy of his presidency has been debated in the decades since, few struggle to speak kindly of the life Carter led after leaving public office.
“There was no scandal,” said Reginald Watkins, 50. “There’s nothing with him. He was better after he left office, than when he was in office. Building Habitat for Humanity around the country, he and his wife. Helping people that are poor. I mean, he was a great American.”
Watkins, who took a train from Brandywine, Maryland, to be at the Capitol Wednesday, said he always held Carter in high regard.
“He was a great American president. He was true to what he believed, and he was the epitome of what a Christian should be,” Watkins said.
Marshall Rocke, 60, took an Amtrak train from New York City to Washington to pay respects to “one of the greatest human beings ever.”
Rocke said he admired Carter most for his humanitarian work after he left the White House, from his fight to eliminate Guinea worm disease in Africa to overseeing elections in developing democracies and building homes with Habitat for Humanity.
“If anyone was a saint it was him,” said Rocke, a retired banker.
Casket to move to national, private funerals
Once Carter concludes lying in state Thursday morning, his casket will be transported once again, first for a funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, and then for a private ceremony back in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
Tributes to Carter began over the weekend in Georgia. Before the public was invited into the Capitol Rotunda Tuesday, lawmakers convened that afternoon for their own service honoring the 39th president. His remains were brought to Capitol Hill in Washington via a procession intended to mimic his 1977 inaugural parade.
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Aggie Heller, 68, was there to see both events.
Heller voted for Carter in November 1976 and the following January saw him and first lady Rosalynn Carter walk hand-in-hand up Pennsylvania Avenue – the first time any president joined the Inaugural Parade on foot.
“My friend and I just rode down on a whim,” she said, recalling that cold January morning. “Rosalynn had such a pretty blue coat on. I’ll never forget it.”
Heller returned to Washington Tuesday, driving from Maryland with another friend early that morning.
After she walked out of the Capitol on Tuesday night, Heller stopped at the condolence book and thanked Carter in writing “for all the years between” his inauguration nearly 50 years ago, and his death in December at age 100.
“I am here because he was such a good man,” she said. “Nobody can beat his loyalty to his country.”
(This story has been updated to correct an inaccuracy.)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Americans share what Jimmy Carter means to them
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