Signs that read “Happy 100th Birthday Mr. President!” dot lawns. The local general store is stocking up on its famous peanut butter ice cream. And the population of this tiny southwestern #Georgia town is expected to double for a day.
#JimmyCarter turns 100 Tuesday, & his hometown is pulling out all the stops to celebrate the milestone — even if the fmr president himself isn’t expected to be attending.
#HappyBirthdayJimmyCarter
❤️🎈🎁🎂🎂🎁🎈❤️
The birthday bash for the 1st #POTUS to reach 100 will include a military jet flyover, a naturalization ceremony & a concert. #JimmyCarter, who is in hospice care, has not attended a major event since his wife of 77 years Rosalynn Carter’s memorial in Nov 2023.
Throughout Plains, locals are excited to honor the man they know as “Mr. Jimmy.” Many residents here have stories about running into Carter at the pharmacy or the peanut shop that sells the flavor of ice cream he enjoys.
#JimmyCarter has never been one for huge birthday bashes. He spent his 52nd campaigning & his 55th, as president, drinking white wine at a DC steakhouse w/his wife & a few friends. After he lost reelection at 56, Carter returned to the tiny south Georgia town where he was born in 1924. Friends said he’s mostly opted for low-key celebrations ever since.
Boze Godwin, who served as the town’s mayor for 40 yrs before retiring in Jan, threw a few lowcountry-boil birthday parties for Carter,
& once, when #JimmyCarter wanted homemade peach ice cream, Godwin drove 4 hrs each way to Steinhatchee, FL, to buy a gallon.
The only fancy celebration Godwin remembers Carter ever having was his 75th. He commemorated that one w/a gala & a fundraiser to restore the Rylander Theatre in Americus, GA. Pat Boone & the Indigo Girls performed, & Carter cut his birthday cake w/a saber he earned at the Naval Academy.
…Because his health has been so bad, Plains residents didn’t expect him to show up last October when they celebrated his 99th birthday at the annual peanut festival. Most people were watching the parade when a black Chevy Suburban driven by a Secret Service agent suddenly turned onto Main Street. The crowd gasped & cheered as they realized #JimmyCarter was in the back seat, wearing an Atlanta Braves ball cap & holding hands w/ Rosalynn, his wife of 77 years.
…#JimmyCarter did not attend this year’s peanut festival, which was on Saturday. He was last spotted out locally around the 4th of July, when Stuckey said he went to see a fireworks display in a neighboring community.
Nonetheless, his neighbors…have been planning for his 100th celebration for the past year. The military flyover includes four F-18 Jets, which Carter had authorized to build when he was president.
The community concert will include performances by country musician Brent Cobb & pianist David Osbourne, who has been playing before the Carters for 3 decades.
Tickets to the events sold out within a few days. …Stuckey said…everyone wanted a chance to mark history.
“There’s never been a president to live to 100,” Stuckey said. “It’s very humbling & a great moment in history that we get to have a front-row seat to.”
#JimmyCarter’s state of #Georgia is critical to the November election. Joe Biden beat Trump in 2020 by <1% of the vote in the state, & Carter’s family said he can’t wait to cast his mail-in ballot for #Harris, the Democratic nominee.
Few cities in America have had such a close-knit relationship w/a president as Carter has had w/Plains.
#HappyBirthdayJimmyCarter
In his memoir, “An Hour Before Daylight,” #JimmyCarter wrote about growing up in a one-story farmhouse on the edge of Plains, just a few generations after the end of slavery, when White & Black Georgians were still figuring out how to live together & rely on one another.
Carter’s family grew peanuts & cotton & struggled, w/the help of Black farm hands & neighbors, to make it through the Great Depression. His childhood on the farm left an indelible mark.
“My most persistent impression as a farm boy was of the earth,” #JimmyCarter wrote. “There was a closeness, almost an immersion, in the sand, loam & red clay that seemed natural & constant.”
After Carter married Rosalynn, the couple built a house in Plains in 1961. They have lived there ever since, except for Carter’s stints in the governor’s mansion in Atlanta & his time in the White House. The home is also from where they launched much of their #humanitarian work.
Today, Plains has a population of just 720 residents. Most of the town’s main attractions involve the Carters. The city has commemorated both Jimmy & Rosalynn’s childhood homes. The old train depot where he headquartered his presidential campaign is now a museum. 65k tourists visit the #JimmyCarter National Historical Park each year.
Many here aren’t surprised that #JimmyCarter made it to 100. And they note his longevity isn’t by accident. Even from a young age, Carter’s mother, Lillian, who was a nurse, instilled in him the value of good #nutrition. Throughout much of his life, Carter was also an avid #runner. In his later years, he had a #swimming pool installed at his house so he could keep #exercising.
“But both he & Rosalynn ate right, every single meal. They exercised every single day & made it a priority,” Stuckey said. “They were just regimented in their #health ethic because they wanted to live as long as they possibly could to help as many people as they possibly could.”
In the lead-up to Tuesday’s celebrations, many from near & far were reflecting on Carter’s legacy. Many Black residents recalled how #JimmyCarter helped rebuild what they refer to as “the projects” where many low-income Plains residents reside.
Stanley Lockhart, who is Black & became paralyzed after a swimming accident 15yrs ago, said he has so much admiration for Carter that he would always try to say hello to him. Lockhart would lift his elbow just high enough to signal a wave.
“If I see him, I wave to him & he would wave back,” said Lockhart, 52. “He did a lot of good stuff for us & he was a good man.”
Others were reflecting on how his life & career crossed political lines that now feel etched in stone.
“He brought people together instead of dividing them, unlike some people we know,” said Paula Riley, 64, who lives in Randolph County, GA, & took her family on a tour of #JimmyCarter’s boyhood home on Monday.
April Kirkman, 67, traveled to Plains from California w/her guitar & a song she wrote for the fmr POTUS. The song is titled, “I Wanna Be a Jimmy Carter Kinda Christian.” She said it is meant to praise a past era when #politics & #religion were less divisive.
“Faith, hope, love are what I choose,” the lyrics read. “Yea, yea, a Jimmy Carter kinda Christian. No, no, I ain’t talking ’bout religion. Just wanna walk a mile in those size 11 shoes.”
A Nonilex story:
I was 6 when #JimmyCarter ran for reelection, & the news was predicting a loss. I adored Carter & was very upset he wasn’t going to be president anymore.
One day as I was walking down a very intimidating staircase, my daddy holding my hand, I asked, “Daddy, why don’t you run for president?”
He turned to me & said, “Baby, only idiots & assholes want to be president.”
“Jimmy Carter isn’t an idiot or an asshole,” I rebutted.
“He’s the exception, baby.”
#HappyBirthday President #JimmyCarter!!! Jimmy Carter turns 100 today.
He is the first fmr #POTUS to live for a century. It defies all odds—Carter entered hospice care last year.
Health issues will keep him from attending celebrations in his hometown of Plains, Georgia where he still lives & they are celebrating the milestone.
He is delighted by #Harris’s presidential campaign & has said he wants to live long enough to vote for #KamalaHarris.
❤️🎈🎁🎂🎂🎁🎈❤️
washingtonpost.com/nation/2024…
Jimmy Carter is the first American president to reach 100. Locals in his hometown of Plains, Ga., are celebrating the man they know as “Mr. Jimmy.”Tim Craig (The Washington Post)
