PLAINS, Ga. — Nelle Ariail has 40 years' worth of stories about Jimmy Carter.
There is the time the former president showed up in her driveway riding his bicycle to come see about a tree that had fallen in her yard. Or the time in the 1990s when he told Ariail’s husband, Dan, who served as Carter’s pastor at Maranatha Baptist Church and was pursuing his doctorate, he couldn’t do his work on a typewriter and not only gave him a computer, but also taught him how to use it.
There are the five trips across the continent working with Habitat for Humanity — including a Tijuana trip that had them sleeping in tents and warming a bag of water in the sun to bathe by hanging it in a makeshift shower stall. Or when she made a teddy bear out of one of his shirts that was auctioned off for more than $1,000 to raise money for the City of Plains. Or even being in Sweden to watch Carter receive his Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
With Carter’s family announcing that the former president has opted to forgo additional medical intervention and will receive hospice care at home, it’s given Ariail a chance to reflect on the memories of a 40-year friendship. But the memory that stands out the most?
“Flying with them is awesome,” she said, recounting the last trip she and her daughter took with the Carters to California in 2018 to view a documentary on Rosalynn Carter, the former president’s wife. “That was so special, riding out with them and talking on the plane. And he kept saying, ‘I’m so glad y’all came. I’m so glad y’all came.’”
Ariail said that in their later years, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, 98 and 95, respectively, make sure to take care of themselves.
“They eat very healthy and they exercise every day,” she said. “And they did that so they would live as long as they could so they could continue to help people for as long as they could.”
Ariail moved to Plains in 1982 when her husband took a job as the pastor at Maranatha Baptist Church. The foursome became fast friends. Ariail’s husband died in 2013, so she knows all too well the pain Rosalynn Carter might soon be facing.
“I’m afraid it is about toward the end. My prayer is that he just won’t have to suffer a long time,” Ariail said, noting that the Carters have been married for 76 years. “And then Rosalynn? She’s going to be lost.”
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