When was Jimmy Carter married? All about Rosalynn Carter as 39th US president dies at 100

Former President Jimmy Carter passed away Sunday, December 29, at the age of 100. He met his demise almost two years after entering hospice care and was at his home in Plains, Georgia, at the time. The cause of death remains unknown.

As reported by People Magazine, one of his final public appearances was last year in November, when he showed up at his wife of 77 years' memorial services to mourn her.

Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn got hitched in 1946. The two first met when she was just born and Jimmy was 3 years old, People Magazine has reported. However, they only became friends in 1945, when Carter was on holiday from the Naval Academy. It was then that he asked her out on a date. In Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas' book What Makes a Marriage Last, he recalled:

"I just felt compatible with her. She was beautiful and innocent, and there was a resonance. We rode in the rumble seat of a Ford pickup—Ruth and her boyfriend in the front—and I kissed her on that first date. I remember that vividly."

All about Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, as the former president once said, it only took one date for him to want to marry his wife

Speaking with Oprah in a 2015 interview, Jimmy Carter said he knew he wanted to marry his later wife right after the first date. He professed to his mother the following morning,

"She's the one I'm going to marry."

Reflecting on what he liked about her, he told Winfrey:

"She was quiet. She was extremely intelligent. But I knew that she was very timid, by the way, beautiful, and there was just something about her that was irresistible."

As for who she was, Rosalynn was the oldest of four. Upon her father's passing when she was 13, she helped her mother, who worked as a dressmaker, in looking after the kids and taking care of her house. She began dating the former president right after high school, and a year later, they got married.

With Jimmy Carter joining the line of duty soon after, the couple moved around a lot. They had all of their four children in different places, as reported by The White House's official website: "John William in Virginia, James Earl III in Hawaii, and Donnel Jeffrey in Connecticut." As for their only daughter, Amy Lynn, she was born after 14 years in Georgia in 1967.

During her time as First Lady, the website asserts that "Mrs. Carter managed routine duties and special projects in her office in the East Wing." Furthermore, it states that:

"As First Lady, she focused national attention on the performing arts. She invited to the White House leading classical artists from around the world, as well as traditional American artists. She also took a strong interest in programs to aid mental health, the community, and the elderly."

Prior to her passing, Rosalynn served as vice chair of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Born in 1982, its goal was to foster peace and human rights on a global scale. At the center, she focused her efforts on eradicating the stigma around mental illness as she lobbied to increase access to mental health care.

At the time, she and Jimmy Carter were heavily involved in projects that aimed to "resolve conflict, promote human rights, improve global health, and build democracy in some 65 countries."

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Jimmy Carter died in the same home he and his wife spent most of their lives in. The Carter Center confirmed his passing on X, stating that he died quietly and with his loved ones by his side.

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