Despite the immeasurable stress they faced at various points in their relationship, Jimmy and Rosalynn never crumbled, always leaning on one another when things got tough. DuBose Porter, the Carters' longtime friend and political ally,once told PEOPLEthat when it came to the former first couple, “sometimes it’s difficult to know where one ends and the other begins.”
Here’s the story of how the apparent soulmates first met — in a hospital 96 years ago — paving the way for Jimmy and Rosalynn to progress from childhood acquaintances to long-distance crushes to, eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Carter.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter on election night in 1976.Getty
Shortly after Rosalynn was born, Miss Lillian brought her 3-year-old son, Jimmy, into the hospital to make a new friend. (There have been conflicting reports on the exact timing that Jimmy was introduced to Rosalynn, though biographer Jonathan Alter previously told PEOPLE it happened three days after her birth.)
At the time, of course, their introduction didn’t mean much. But looking back, it signifies just how far backthe longest-married presidential couplegoes — a literal lifetime.
Jimmy Carter Library
Jimmy and Rosalynn weren’t fast friends, as Alter has clarified, but they were acquainted through their families growing up. Rosalynn was very good friends, however, with Jimmy’s younger sister Ruth, who was closer to her in age and one of the few other girls in town.
It wasn’t until after Jimmy went off to the United States Naval Academy that Rosalynn had said her interest in him was piqued, after seeing a photo of him in uniform. Her curiosity didn’t run too deep at first, because he was studying far from home.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP
But one summer while Jimmy was visiting Plains before returning to the Naval Academy for his final year of school, he spotted Rosalynn and asked her out on a whim. They saw a movie together — nothing too special or conversational — yet Jimmy went home that night with a feeling that he had just spent time with the woman he’d marry.
The young lovebirds began dating long-distance, during which timeJimmy coined the acronym “ILYTG”— “I love you the goodest” — as a way to succinctly and briefly express his affection.
Charles Kelly/AP
Quickly after Jimmy’s graduation they tied the knot, beginning their marriage with a series of moves around the United States, going wherever the Navy took them.
Upon leaving the White House and returning to private life, they co-foundedthe Carter Centerand rebranded themselves as humanitarians and activists, livingmodestly back in Plainsbetween public appearances and trips.
Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn in 2018.Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty
Over the past 77 years — their anniversary was in July — the Carters went to the ends of the earth with one another as a military couple, humanitarians and, for a brief time, the most visible couple in the world.
When Jimmy battled life-threatening cancer in 2015 at the age of 90,Rosalynn helped him power through it, even knowing that the former president’s death was a possibility.He beat the oddsand made it to the other side of the health scare.
But in February, after Jimmy opted toterminate further medical interventionand receive hospice care in his Georgia home, it became clear that the Carters' record-breaking marriage was nearing a natural end. In May, Rosalynn was diagnosed with dementia, also entering hospice care in November.
source: people.com
