From Plains to Atlanta, a Rolling Tribute Traces Jimmy Carter’s Life
The New York Times
Days of honoring the 39th president began on Saturday with stops at his childhood farm, the Georgia State Capitol and the Carter Center.
In a few days, Jimmy Carter will be celebrated in a towering cathedral in Washington by fellow American presidents, noted humanitarians and other world leaders. There, dignitaries will reflect on his rise to the heights of political influence and his globe-trotting mission to eradicate disease and protect democracy.
But before all of that, a hearse carrying the remains of Mr. Carter, the nation’s 39th president, ventured on Saturday to where a seemingly improbable journey began and ended — a patch of rural Georgia where he was born and, on Dec. 29, died at 100.
The hearse crossed through Plains, his tiny hometown, and then paused outside the farmhouse he moved into when he was 4 years old, where he raised chickens, helped his father tend peanut crops and lived years without running water.
These were places that Mr. Carter had always said made an indelible impression on him, and where he, in turn, left an enduring mark.
