They’re still holding hands
Grandson sees Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter ‘in the final chapter’
8/20/2023 3:26 p.m
Former US President Carter is now 98 years old, his wife is two years younger. And both are not doing so well anymore, as a grandson reports. “He’s still very Jimmy Carter,” says Josh Carter of his grandfather. “He’s just tired.”
The grandson of former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn have spoken out about his grandparents’ health. “We’re in the last chapter,” Josh Carter told People magazine. But it helps to know that both of them lived their lives to the fullest.
There is always someone at their home in Plains, Georgia, to keep them company. The only visitors are currently family and nursing staff. Jimmy Carter, 98, has been receiving palliative care at home with his family since mid-February. Carter made it public in 2015 that he had liver cancer. Melanomas were also discovered in his brain. He later announced that he had overcome the disease.
In February, US media reported that his condition had deteriorated. His wife Rosalynn made her dementia public a few months ago. Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter had married in 1946. The couple have four children.
“He’s still all Jimmy Carter,” Josh Carter said of his grandfather. “He’s just tired. I mean, he’s almost 99 years old.” But he understands how many good wishes he received and felt the love. He said of his 96-year-old grandmother: “For the most part, she still knows who we are – that we are family.” Her symptoms improve when she sleeps well at night. She is still able to remember new things. The couple would also still be holding hands, according to Josh Carter.
The Democratic politician from the state of Georgia was President of the United States from 1977 to 1981, when he was replaced by Republican Ronald Reagan. After his tenure, he became involved as a mediator in various conflicts, and in 2002 he received the Nobel Peace Prize.