Rosalynn Carter memorial events to begin in Georgia; grandson remembers her as the family’s ‘glue’

(AMERICUS, Ga.) — Former first lady Rosalynn Carter will be memorialized over several days this week in Georgia, starting Monday.

Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at 96, will be remembered with events and a funeral service after a family motorcade on Monday carries her remains to Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, her alma mater, where wreaths will be laid in front of a statue of her, according to details released by The Carter Center.

Carter family members will be in the motorcade as it heads from Plains to Americus to retrieve her body; some of her U.S. Secret Service protection detail will be honorary pallbearers.

The motorcade will continue from Georgia Southwestern State University to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, where she will lie in repose.

The public will be able to pay its respects at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum and is also able to watch the motorcade on its journey.

The Glenn Memorial Church at Emory University in Atlanta will then hold a memorial service for Carter on Tuesday, and her funeral will be held on Wednesday at Maranatha Baptist Church back in Plains, her and former President Jimmy Carter’s hometown, where he used to teach Sunday school.

She will be buried at her home in Plains.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Georgia on Tuesday for the memorial service. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will also attend.

To honor Rosalynn Carter’s legacy, the White House ordered flags to be flown at half-staff.

“First Lady Rosalynn Carter walked her own path, inspiring a nation and the world along the way,” the Bidens said in a statement the day she died.

“Throughout her incredible life as First Lady of Georgia and the First Lady of the United States, Rosalynn did so much to address many of society’s greatest needs,” the Bidens said. “She was a champion for equal rights and opportunities for women and girls; an advocate for mental health and wellness for every person; and a supporter of the often unseen and uncompensated caregivers of our children, aging loved ones, and people with disabilities.”

Rosalynn Carter — much Jimmy Carter, her husband of over 77 years — built a legacy around mental health advocacy and humanitarian work through The Carter Center, which the couple founded after they left the White House.

Jimmy Carter, 99, is currently in hospice care.

“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” he said in a statement announcing her death. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”

Jason Carter, the former first couple’s grandson and the chair of the board of The Carter Center, said the institution’s work will continue.

“We are going to be able at the center to continue on with all the programming that we do without my grandparents’ active involvement. But, as you can imagine, for the last 20 years, we’ve been planning and talking about what is going to happen when they’re no longer active,” Jason Carter said on the “Politically Georgia” podcast last week.

In that appearance, Jason Carter, a former state senator and gubernatorial candidate, called his grandmother “by far the best politician in our family.”

“She was such a glue for our family,” Jason Carter said. “She was the personal caretaker in so many ways for so many of us, including me personally, at many different times in my life.”

As the family has grieved, they’re also celebrating Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter’s work, their grandson said.

“It is so much easier for me to talk about her and him as sort of global leaders, as people who’ve done amazing things, than it is for me to process the personal side of this for right now,” he said.

ABC News’ Janice McDonald contributed to this report.

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