Former President Jimmy Carter – who died on Sunday, December 29th at the age of 100 – left hospice care in November 2023 to mourn the love of his life, Rosalynn Carter, and bravely gave the nation one last look at their longest-living leader in a rare moment of vulnerability for an ailing head of state.

No one who knew Jimmy needed to see him at Rosalynn’s memorial service to know how much he cared for her. But when the 99-year-old former president appeared in person – nine months in hospice and “physically weakened,” as his grandson said The New York Times Before a church service, his dogged love for his wife of 77 years came to the fore: sick or failing, he showed up for the girl from Plains who never failed to show up for him.

Jimmy’s first appearance since withdrawing from the public eye during the COVID-19 pandemic occurred on November 28, 2023, at a service for his wife, when he was brought to Emory University’s Glenn Memorial Church in a wheelchair, wearing a blanket the he and he depicted were faces of the woman.

Sitting next to the country’s 39th president in the front row were his children on either side, fellow presidents Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, and every living first lady of the United States.

Shortly after attending Rosalynn’s memorial service – where he looked noticeably frailer than the last time people saw him – Jimmy made his second public appearance in honor of his late wife, attending an intimate memorial service in Plains, Georgia, which was limited to family and friends.

The funeral was held at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Jimmy taught Sunday school for many years after his presidency. Sitting in a wheelchair, he put on a red wreath, an apparent nod to the quality time he and Rosalynn spent in Hawaii while he was in the Navy.

After the memorial service, the Carter family returned to Jimmy and Rosalynn’s home to hold a private funeral on the grounds, and the 39th U.S. President remained hidden from the public from that point until his death.

The former first couple bequeathed their property to the National Park Service so that their longtime home could be turned into a museum.