Tributes poured in from around the world for the longest-lived U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, who celebrated his 99th birthday yesterday with his wife, Rosalynn, and their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren at their modest ranch-style home in Plains, Georgia.
The Carters honored Jimmy’s legacy in the same one-story structure where the couple lived before he was first elected to the Georgia Senate in 1962.
Carter has been able to enjoy months of accolades typically reserved for when a former president dies, after battling a series of hospitalizations that led the family to announce his entering home hospice care in February.
The Carter Center has received over 19,500 birthday wishes from over 100 countries, including messages from world leaders and pop culture figures, along with everyday individuals expressing admiration for his four decades of humanitarian work.
“You don’t get more out of a life than he got, right?” Jason, Jimmy’s grandson, remarked. “It is an incredible, full rich life with a long marriage, a wonderful partnership with my grandmother, and the ability to see the world and interact with the world in ways that almost nobody else has ever been able to do.”