Former President Jimmy Carter is in attendance Tuesday at the Atlanta tribute service for his wife of 77 years, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
It is just the second public appearance for the former president over the last several months, after he entered hospice care in February.
The trip to Atlanta this week is also the first publicly known travel for Carter, who turned 99 in October, this year. The former president and family members traveled with a motorcade from Plains to Atlanta on Monday to the Carter Center, where a repose service was held for Rosalynn.
"He doesn't like to be far from her," Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander explained to 11Alive's Savannah Levins.
The former first lady passed away on Nov. 19 at 96 years old. It was announced just this week that Jimmy Carter would be traveling to Atlanta for services.
The last public appearance Carter had made was with Rosalynn in September, when the couple went for a ride at the Plains Peanut Festival.
By and large his family has chosen to keep the former president's ongoing health status private this year. The most recent update on the his condition came in September from his grandson in an interview with People, where he said, "It's clear we're in the final chapter" in regards to his health.
Josh Carter said that nonetheless the former president is "still fully Jimmy Carter" while adding that people are at the former president's house around the clock. He said those people have only been family and caregivers and that Jimmy has "felt the love."
