Jimmy Carter Misses Late Wife Rosalynn 'Terribly, Every Day' as He Marks One Year Without Her (Exclusive)
Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander tells PEOPLE how Rosalynn's death has affected those in her orbit, including the nonprofit workers tasked with carrying on her legacy
Jimmy Carter is missing his late wife, Rosalynn, on the first anniversary of her death.
The former president, now 100, has been in hospice for more than a year and a half — and for most of that time he has been without Rosalynn, who died on Nov. 19, 2023, at age 96.
“He’s surrounded by family and friends and love, and he misses Mrs. Carter terribly, every day,” Paige Alexander, CEO of The Carter Center, tells PEOPLE. “He is still engaged in the world and interested, but he doesn't feel the weight of the world is on his shoulders because he's handed it off to The Carter Center to move forward.”
In 1982, the 39th U.S. president and the former first lady founded their namesake organization, which aims to advance human rights, alleviate human suffering and improve mental health care. Now a founder-inspired organization rather than founder-led, those carrying on the Carters' legacy say the death of Rosalynn inspired them to work even harder to make progress on the issues that she valued most.
“I think in many ways it lit a fire under us,” Alexander, 58, says. “Both nationally and globally, we have extended the work that she started. We've opened an office for mental health and caregiving in Washington, D.C., we're moving our mental health program from Liberia to other African countries and we had a strong mental health presence at the UN General Assembly in September.”
Before COVID-19, the pair remained heavily involved in The Carter Center. “They would walk the halls here holding hands, going from meeting to meeting, turning off lights if someone left the lights on,” Alexander says. “They were on the road regularly. They spent one week of every month here at The Carter Center, and they had an apartment here and their offices were here and they were really working colleagues of ours.”
While those who work at The Carter Center miss seeing Rosalynn in the halls, they find themselves comforted by the recognition and celebration of her hard work seen around the world.
“I think often first ladies get overlooked, and so we were truly comforted by the fact that she was recognized as much as she was for all of her work that she's done in mental health and caregiving,” The Carter Center CEO says.
“People have suddenly realized that she was very much her own person, and it has been for us a moment of real gratitude that people saw her legacy as something that should be celebrated.”
Looking forward to the future of The Carter Center, Alexander tells PEOPLE that continuing Rosalynn’s legacy is of the utmost importance.
“I think the people who knew and worked with Mrs. Carter feel that they've internalized that and the people who didn't have that chance to work with her recognize they're inheriting a legacy that is so incredibly powerful,” she says.
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Alexander adds, “Going forward, I see us using the 21st-century tools we have with our Rosalynn Carter Journalist Fellowship program to make sure that we're elevating the voices of social media influencers and journalists, and finding the space so we can all go out and have critical conversations that are going to change the trajectory of how mental health is treated across the United States. And so I think for all of us, we're elevating the work that Mrs. Carter started and we look forward to continuing it.”
Remembering Rosalynn on the anniversary of her death comes easily for Alexander.
“She was selfless, intentional, astute, she listened and she was very service oriented. She recognized what needed to be done and did it,” she says. “When asked what she wanted to be remembered for Mrs. Carter said, ‘I would like to think that people understood that I took advantage of the opportunities I was given and I did the best that I could.’ ”
