A motorcade carried Jimmy Carter's flag-draped coffin through his hometown of Plains, Georgia, where he was born 100 years ago, en route to Atlanta where a funeral will be held Saturday, part of a six-day public farewell for the 39th president.
The somber procession began at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus and traveled to Plains, the longtime home of Carter and his late wife, Rosalynn, where a ceremonial bell was rung 39 times at his home to mark his service as the country's 39th president.
Mourners lined the route of the motorcade as it made its way to Carter's boyhood home, holding bouquets of flowers and pictures of the former president.
"We want to pay our respects," 12-year-old Will Porter Shelbrock told the Associated Press. "He was ahead of his time on what he tried to do and tried to accomplish."
His remains will be taken to Atlanta where he will lie in repose at the Carter Presidential Center until Tuesday.
Carter, who was president between 1977 and 1981, died at 100 on Dec. 29. His wife died Nov. 19, 2023, at the age of 96.
Tuesday afternoon, Carter's body will be transported to Washington, D.C., where a horse-drawn military wagon will be part of a procession to the U.S. Capitol.
He will lie in state in the Capitol until Thursday when his remains will be taken to the Washington National Cathedral for a national funeral service.
President Joe Biden will deliver the eulogy.
Following the service, Carter's body will be returned to Georgia where he will be interred in a private ceremony next to his wife, Rosalynn.
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