Friday, August 18, 2017 marks our former First Lady Rosalynn Carter’s 90th birthday. Born in Georgia in 1927 minutes away from her future husband former President Jimmy Carter, she has spent much of her life with family and helping millions around the world via public service. She has four children, 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Below are some excerpts from former First Lady’s biography, courtesy of The Carter Center.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has worked for more than four decades to improve the quality of life for people around the world. Today, she is a leading advocate for mental health, caregiving, early childhood immunization, human rights, and conflict resolution through her work at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The Center is a private, nonprofit institution founded by former President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter in 1982.
Mrs. Carter has been advocating for mental health for decades.
A full partner with the president in all the Center's activities, the former first lady is a member of the Carter Center Board of Trustees. She created and chairs the Carter Center's Mental Health Task Force, an advisory body of experts, consumers, and advocates promoting positive change in the mental health field. Each year, she hosts the Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, bringing together leaders of the nation's mental health organizations to address critical issues.
Caregiving is another area of service and passion that Mrs. Carter has actively advocated.
Outside the center, Mrs. Carter is president of the board of directors for the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI), which was established in her honor on the campus of her alma mater, Georgia Southwestern State University, in Americus, Georgia. Through research, education, and training, the RCI promotes the mental health and well-being of individuals, families, and professional caregivers; delineates effective caregiving practices; builds public awareness of caregiving needs; and advances public and social policies that enhance caring communities.
She’s written five books thus far and three are about caregiving and mental health.
- Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book For Caregivers (with Susan K. Golant)
- Helping Someone with Mental Illness: A Compassionate Guide for Family, Friends, and Caregivers (with Susan K. Golant), which was selected as the winner of the 1999 American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book Award in the service category; and
- Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis (with Susan K. Golant and Kathryn E. Cade)
Much of Mrs. Carter life has been dedicated to issues affecting women and children. In 1991, she launched Every Child By Two, with Mrs. Betty Bumpers, wife of former U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas. It’s a nationwide campaign to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases by raising awareness of the critical need for timely infant immunizations.
The Carters’ work with Habitat for Humanity is known throughout the world. The couple spends one week each year building homes in different cities and countries to help those in need via the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project which began in 1984. There is also Project Interconnections, which is a public/private nonprofit partnership to provide housing for homeless people who are mentally ill. She served as distinguished centennial lecturer at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, from 1988-1992 and is currently a distinguished fellow at the Emory University Department of Women's Studies in Atlanta.
Since graduating from Georgia Southwestern College in 1946, Mrs. Carter has received many honors, among them the Volunteer of the Decade Award from the National Mental Health Association; the Award of Merit for Support of the Equal Rights Amendment from the National Organization for Women; the Notre Dame Award for International Service; the Eleanor Roosevelt Living World Award from Peace Links; the Kiwanis World Service Medal from Kiwanis International Foundation; the Jefferson Award from the American Institute for Public Service; the Georgia Woman of the Year Award from the Georgia Commission on Women; the Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health from the Institute of Medicine; the United States Surgeon General's Medallion; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. In 2001, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Along with writing, Mrs. Carter continues to travel with speaking engagements throughout the world. She’s is a deacon at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, and enjoys fly-fishing, bird-watching, swimming, and biking in her free time.
She told ajc.com.
“I’ve had a great life,” she said in the interview. “I’ve watched my family grow, I’ve traveled around the world and I’ve had a chance to contribute some, I think.”
So what are Rosalynn’s plans for her birthday that will be spent with her husband of 71 years?
“I haven’t thought of anything, except that I’m going to be at home, and that’s exciting,” she told ajc.com.
Rosalynn and former President Jimmy Carter, 92, grew up in Plains and have lived in the same house in their hometown since 1961.
She’s an American treasure. Happy Birthday, Rosalynn Carter.
Thank you, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
To learn and enjoy more about the Carters, visit Facebook Page: Honoring Jimmy Carter.