US Presidents

Carter turns 100, and his hometown is ringing in the milestone

Author: Tim Craig and Casey Parks Source: The Washington Post
October 1, 2024 at 07:16
A sign celebrating former president Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday is displayed in a shop window Monday in Plains, Ga. (Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images)
A sign celebrating former president Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday is displayed in a shop window Monday in Plains, Ga. (Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images)

Jimmy Carter is the first American president to reach 100. Locals in his hometown of Plains, Ga., are excited to celebrate the man they know as “Mr. Jimmy.”


PLAINS, Ga. — 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.Jimmy Carter turns 100 Tuesday, and his hometown is pulling out all the stops to celebrate the milestone — even if the former president himself isn’t expected to be attending.

The birthday bash for the first U.S. president to reach 100 will include a military jet flyover, a naturalization ceremony and a concert. Carter, who is in hospice care, has not attended a major event since his wife’s memorial in November 2023.

Throughout Plains, locals are excited to honor the man they know simply 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. And even though Plains leans Republican, some houses with yard signs supporting former president Donald Trump also have signs commemorating Carter.

“Everybody in this town is crazy about him,” said Sonya Fox, who works at a medical clinic that Carter helped to establish in the town. “There wasn’t a doubt in our mind that he would make it.”

Jill Stuckey, the superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park here in Plains, visits with Carter almost daily and said the former president is in an upbeat mood but fairly nonchalant about his birthday.

“I ask him how it feels being 100, and I really get no reaction,” said Stuckey, adding that Carter often just shrugs his shoulders. “But what he is really interested in is what we are doing to help people around town, or how some of his friends are.”

Carter has never been one for huge birthday bashes. He spent his 52nd campaigning and his 55th, as president, drinking white wine at a D.C. steakhouse with his wife and 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 years before retiring in January, threw a few lowcountry-boil birthday parties for Carter, and once, when Carter wanted homemade peach ice cream, Godwin drove four hours each way to Steinhatchee, Fla., to buy a gallon.

The only fancy celebration Godwin remembers Carter ever having was his 75th. He commemorated that one with a gala and a fundraiser to restore the Rylander Theatre in Americus, Ga. Pat Boone and the Indigo Girls performed, and Carter cut his birthday cake with a saber he earned at the Naval Academy.


Death

Death

Post-presidency

Post-presidency

Presidential term

Presidential term

George H.W. Bush

died at 94.

Joe Biden is the

oldest U.S.

president. He will be 82 when his term ends.

Jimmy

Carter

100 years old

100 years old

William Henry Harrison had the

shortest presidency at 31 days.

80

80

60

60

George

Washington

Theodore Roosevelt was the

youngest president at 42.

John F. Kennedy died

the youngest at 46.

40

40

35

35

Minimum age to be president is 35 years

Minimum age to be president is 35 years

First president

46th


Statistically, Americans have a less than 1 percent chance of living to 100. When Carter took office, just one president, John Adams, had lived to be 90. Since then, Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush have all reached at least 93, but none has lived as long as Carter.

Carter has faced particularly significant challenges over the past decade. In 2015, he was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, a usually fatal skin cancer that spread to his liver and brain. He has suffered a number of falls in recent years, and in February 2023, he entered hospice care.

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 and cheered as they realized Carter was in the back seat, wearing an Atlanta Braves ball cap and holding hands with Rosalynn, his wife of 77 years.