Jan. 4 (UPI) — The body of former President James Earl “Jimmy” Carter Jr. has begun a weeklong funeral procession to Carter’s final resting place in Plains, Ga.
Carter was the nation’s 39th president and died at his home in Plains at age 100 on Dec. 29.
He had been in hospice care for an extended period and follows his beloved wife and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter in death.
Carter’s final journey began at 10:15 a.m. EST Saturday when his family met at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., and members of his former Secret Service detail carried his casket to a hearse.
The motorcade traveled through Plains, where Carter was born and lived his entire life, other than when serving in the U.S. Navy from 1946 to 1953 or while residing in the White House and Georgia’s Governor’s Mansion in Atlanta.
The funeral procession began at 10:30 a.m. and arrived at Carter’s childhood home at the family farm shortly before 11.
Mourners lined the streets of Plains as the motorcade passed through on its way to the Carter family farm.
The National Park Service gave President Carter a formal salute and rang a historic farm bell 39 times in honor of the nation’s 39th president before the motorcade departed for Atlanta shortly before 11 a.m.
Upon arriving in Atlanta, the motorcade stopped briefly at the Georgia Capitol for a moment of silence attended by Governor George Kemp, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and other political leaders before departing for the Carter Presidential Center.
The motorcade entered the Circle of Flags at the Carter Presidential Center shortly before 4 p.m.
Those in attendance at the Carter Center remained silent as the motorcade entered with only the clicking sounds of cameras breaking the silence, the Savannah Morning News reported.
A military band played “Hail to the Chief” and “America the Beautiful” while members of Carter’s family stood nearby.
His remains were carried into the center at 3:45 p.m. for a private service at 4 p.m., following by the start of public mourning at 7 p.m.
Shortly after losing the 1980 presidential election, Carter established the nonprofit Carter Center, which focuses on humanitarian causes and public health.
Carter’s body will lie in repose at the center from 7 p.m. Saturday through 6 a.m. Tuesday to give the public an opportunity to pay their final respects.
Carter’s body will travel the U.S. Navy Memorial at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday morning and lie in state from 7 p.m. EST Tuesday through 7 a.m. Thursday.
The motorcade will take Carter’s body to the Washington National Cathedral for a national funeral service on Thursday.
Following the national funeral service, the former president’s body will return to Plains for a private funeral late Thursday afternoon at the Maranatha Baptist Church.
The U.S. Navy has scheduled a flyover featuring the missing man formation during the private funeral.
Carter will be buried next to wife Rosalynn at their family farm in Plains. Rosalynn died of natural causes in November 2023.
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter were married for 77 years and will remain together in death.
