Jimmy and Rosalynn's families were friends and neighbors growing up in Plains, Georgia. The two began dating in 1945, while Rosalynn was a student at Georgia Southwestern College and while Jimmy was enrolled at the US Naval Academy.

After their first date, Jimmy told his mother, "She's the girl I want to marry," according to the White House.

They wed on July 7, 1946.

Rosalynn served as the honorary chair of the President's Commission on Mental Health from 1977 to 1978, which helped pass the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980.

After her time in the White House, she remained active in humanitarian work with the establishment of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers and a longtime partnership with Habitat for Humanity. She also wrote five books.

In May 2023, The Carter Center shared that Rosalynn had dementia. She celebrated her 96th birthday that August, and she died a few months later on November 19, 2023.

Her funeral in Atlanta was attended by all living first ladies as well as President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, former president Bill Clinton, and members of Congress.

The Carters have 25 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, The Carter Center said in a statement following Rosalynn's death.

Jack and his first wife, Judy Langford, had two children. Their son Jason James, born in 1975, was a toddler when Carter took office in 1977. Their daughter, Sarah Rosemary, was born in 1978. They eventually divorced, and he married Elizabeth Brasfield in 1992, gaining two stepchildren.

In 2006, Jack ran for a Nevada seat in the US Senate, the first major office the Carter family has sought since 1980. He earned the Democratic nomination, but was unsuccessful against an incumbent Republican senator in the general election.

Jack holds a law degree from the University of Georgia, but he spent most of his career in the investment and finance industry, The New York Times reported.

Chip worked as vice president, then president and CEO at Friendship Force, a not-for-profit that organized international exchanges for adult homestays. He also served as a member of Plains City Council in Georgia.

He has been married three times and has a son, James Carter IV, and a daughter, Margaret Alicia Carter.

Jeff and his wife, Annette, met at Georgia Southwestern University. They married in 1975 during Carter's presidential campaign and lived in the White House for the first years of their marriage.

"While living in the White House, Jeff and Annette helped host everybody from Bob Dylan to Pope John Paul II," their son Josh wrote in Annette's obituary in September 2021. "In some of Annette's favorite White House memories, she greeted the cast of Star Wars after the release of 'A New Hope' and John Travolta after he starred in 'Saturday Night Fever' and 'Grease.' These experiences were quite extraordinary for Jeff and Annette's first few years of marriage."

Jeff co-founded Computer Mapping Consultants, a firm that became a consultancy for the World Bank in 1978 and held foreign government contracts, The Bryan Times reported.

He and Annette had three children together. In 2018, their 28-year-old son Jeremy died from a suspected heart attack.

Amy was 9 years old when her father's presidency began. She had a pet Siamese cat named Misty who accompanied her to Camp David and took up residence in her doll house.

Amy became a political activist in the '80s and '90s, and she was even arrested at a CIA recruitment protest, the Los Angeles Times reported. She later received a master's degree from Tulane in art history and wed computer consultant James Wentzel in 1996. At her wedding ceremony she was not given away, saying she did not belong to anyone, People magazine reported.

She had one child with Wentzel, a son named Hugo James Wentzel. They later divorced, and she married John Joseph "Jay" Kelly in 2007. They share another son, Errol Carter Kelly.

Amy worked with her dad on the 1995 children's book "The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer," which Jimmy wrote and she illustrated, about a boy who befriends a monster. She remains a board member of The Carter Center, but she has otherwise stayed out of public life.

Among their grandchildren is Jack's son Jason James Carter (pictured), a former Georgia state senator who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2014. 

His sister, Sarah Rosemary, earned a PhD in neuroscience from the University of California San Francisco in 2007 and works as the principal at Science Policy Consulting LLC, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Jack also has two stepchildren: Sarah Chuldenko, a painter, and John Chuldenko, a filmmaker.

Chip's son, James Carter IV, works as an opposition researcher. He made headlines during the 2012 presidential election, after he helped unearth the infamous "47%" video that ostracized nominee Mitt Romney, NPR reported. He later received a thank-you note from former President Barack Obama, CBS News reported.

Chip's daughter Margaret has remained out of the public eye.

Jeff's oldest son, Joshua Jeffery Carter, hosts a podcast called "Unchanging Principles," a reference to a line from Jimmy's inaugural address.

Jeff's youngest, James "Jamie" Carlton Carter, married his longtime girlfriend Anna in a backyard pandemic wedding in October 2021, then held a larger ceremony a year later at the Carter Center, according to their wedding website.

Amy's son, Hugo James Wentzel, and stepson, Errol Carter Kelly, have attended public events with their grandparents, but they have otherwise kept a low profile.

Correction: November 29, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misstated the number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren shared by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. They had 25 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, not 22.

Three-year-old Jimmy met Rosalynn Smith when she was just a newborn. Lillian Carter, Jimmy's mother, worked as a nurse and helped deliver Rosalynn.

Jimmy's younger sister, Ruth, became best friends with Rosalynn. In the 2020 book "What Makes a Marriage Last" by Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue, Rosalynn shared that Jimmy's sister is in part responsible for their relationship.

"I always said I fell in love with a photograph of him on her [Ruth's] bedroom wall," Rosalynn said.

"Ruth and I plotted to get me together with [Jimmy]. She'd call and say 'Come over! He's here!' and I'd go flying over to her house, but he'd be gone again," she told the authors.

Before his final year at the Naval Academy, and before Rosalynn's second year of college, the future couple went on their first date.

"I was cruising around with my sister Ruth and her boyfriend, just looking for a date, and I picked up Rosalynn in front of the Methodist church," he told the authors for "What Makes a Marriage Last."

The two then went out to the movies. "I kissed her on that first date. I remember that vividly," he said in the book.

He also recalled telling his mother the next morning that Rosalynn would be his wife one day.

"Rosalynn was the one I wanted to marry," he said.

Less than a year after their first date, Jimmy asked Rosalynn to marry him. She initially rejected his proposal, because she wanted to prioritize completing her education. 

Later that year, in May 1946, he proposed to her again. This time, she said yes.

The couple tied the knot when Jimmy was 21 and Rosalynn was just 19. They got married in Plains, Georgia, at a Methodist church.

Rosalynn gave birth to their first child, Jack, in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1947 while Jimmy was still serving in the US Navy. 

Jack went to law school at the University of Georgia, and he later ran for senate in Nevada in 2006. Although he succeeded in becoming the Democratic nominee, he lost against the Republican incumbent.

Chip was born in Honolulu, where Carter was stationed with the Navy at the time.

After working on his family's peanut farm, Chip Carter served on the city council in Plains and later worked on the Democratic National Committee. He then worked at Friendship Force, a nonprofit organization focused on building international connections between people.

He was born in New London, Connecticut.

Jeff spent the first years of his marriage to his wife, Annette, living in the White House.

In 1978, he graduated from George Washington University, where he studied geography with a specialty in computer cartography. Later, he became a co-founder of Computer Mapping Consultants, the Bryan Times reported.

After his father died in July 1953, Jimmy Carter left the Navy to move his family back to Plains, where he worked for the family's peanut farm.

"We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics," Rosalynn told the Associated Press in 2021. "I knew more on paper about the business than he did. He would take my advice about things."

Once home, Carter eventually turned his attention to politics, serving as a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967.

In addition to being the only daughter of Jimmy and Rosalynn, Amy is the only Carter child who spent their younger years in the White House.

She initially attended Brown University, but she eventually completed her bachelor's degree at Memphis College of Art in 1991 before earning her master's in art history from Tulane University in 1996, The Washington Post reported. She is now a board member for The Carter Center.

Carter served as the governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1957. During her time as the first lady of Georgia, Rosalynn focused on helping Georgians suffering from mental health issues. She served on the Governor's Commission to Improve Services to the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped.

Jason James Carter was born in 1975 to parents Jack Carter and Julie Langford. In 2010, Jason James Carter was elected to the Georgia Senate, although his grandfather didn't campaign for him until just before the election.

"I needed to be more than Jimmy Carter's grandson and I needed to be sure that I could introduce myself and my vision for this state in an effective way," Jason James Carter told ABC News in 2010.

In 2014, he followed in his grandfather's footsteps and ran for governor of Georgia, albeit unsuccessfully. 

James Carter IV, the son of Chip and Caron Carter, also works in politics as an opposition researcher.

The Carters have a total of 25 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Carter announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on December 12, 1974. Rosalynn was on board from the beginning.

"My wife is much more political," he told the Associated Press in 2021.

She added, "I love it. I love campaigning. I had the best time. I was in all the states in the United States."

The White House's official website says Rosalynn's "belief in her husband's ability to lead the nation was communicated in a quiet, friendly manner that made her an effective campaigner."

Carter defeated incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford to win the presidency.

At the 1977 presidential inauguration, the couple shared a kiss after Carter was sworn in as the 39th president of the United States in Washington, DC.

As the first lady, Rosalynn focused on mental health advocacy. For one year, between 1977 and 1978, she was the honorary chairperson of the President's Commission on Mental Health. In this role, she oversaw a team of social workers, doctors, and lobbyists to enact policy change related to issues of mental illness.

Rosalynn was a political activist whose guidance Carter frequently solicited on both foreign and domestic policy decisions.

In 1979, then-President Carter announced that he would run for reelection. "Let us commit ourselves together to a rebirth of the American spirit," he said in the last leg of his speech, before planting a kiss on Rosalynn's cheek.

He lost the 1980 election to his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan.

In a discussion about the then-upcoming 1984 election with UPI, Rosalynn said, "I think the most important thing is to beat Reagan. I think it's a tragedy what he has done. I feel sorry for who follows him in office."

She praised the decisions her husband made while in office, saying, "Jimmy made the world a safer place with the Panama Canal Treaty, the Camp David agreement, and SALT 2."

In her memoir, "First Lady from Plains," she added, "I would be out there campaigning right now if Jimmy would run again. I miss the world of politics."

"I'd like people to know that we were right, that what Jimmy Carter was doing was best for our country, and that people made a mistake by not voting for him," she wrote.

After Carter lost the 1980 election, the couple moved back to Plains, Georgia, in January 1981.

In 2018, The Washington Post reported that Carter is the only president in recent history to return to the house he lived in before the White House. The couple moved back to the ranch-style home they'd built, which was valued at $167,000 — less than the cost of the Secret Service armored cars that follow him around. 

The Carter Center aims to increase human rights, put an end to human suffering, and promote democracy worldwide. Included in The Carter Center's provisions is a Mental Health Program, which aimed to continue the work that Rosalynn started while her husband held office.

Thirty years after its founding, in 2012, the Carters were interviewed by Georgia Trend, and the former president discussed his intentions for the organization.

"I imagined something like a small Camp David, where a nation that had a civil war going on or where a civil war might break out, could come, and we would negotiate between the two opposing sides to try to bring peace, or prevent a war," he said.

The accomplishments of the organization, such as monitoring elections around the world and nearly eradicating the Guinea worm disease, exceeded the couple's wishes.

"But we never dreamed when we started 30 years ago that we'd be involved in elections around the world — no one had ever done it before. And we never dreamed that we'd get involved in tropical, neglected diseases, and that has become the overwhelming thing we do," he said.

After helping on a project in Americus, Georgia — 10 miles from their hometown, Plains — the Carters "quickly realized that our mission closely aligned with their values," according to Habitat for Humanity.

Later that year, the couple established the Carter Work Project — it would later become known as the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project — by helping renovate a building in New York City.

According to the organization, the Carters have since worked alongside 104,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build and repair more than 4,300 homes.

When asked in the joint People interview for the secret to a long marriage, Rosalynn said, "I'd say space. One of the hardest times was when we came home from the White House. It was the first time we'd been together in the house all day every day. So I got my office in what was a bedroom, and his is in what was the garage."

As for his secrets to a long life, Carter credited exercise and his wife's cooking.

"I exercise and eat right," he said. "My wife is an expert dietitian and a good cook."

Rosalynn added, "I fix fruits and vegetables. Cereal. He never turns down ice cream."

In 2019, Carter became the longest-living president in US history. George H.W. Bush, who died in 2018, had lived until 94.

"It's hard to live until you're 95 years old," Carter told People magazine. "I think the best explanation for that is to marry the best spouse: someone who will take care of you and engage and do things to challenge you and keep you alive and interested in life."

The Carters continued to make appearances at high-profile political events including Democratic National Conventions and presidential inaugurations — the last inauguration they attended was Donald Trump's in 2017. The couple also publicly supported Democratic candidates, including Raphael Warnock in the 2020 Senate race. 

"President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter's legacy as human rights champions and humanitarians is an inspiration to us all," Warnock wrote on Facebook following the endorsement.

"At the end of the day, we try to become reconciled and overcome all the differences that arose during the day," he said in a 2021 interview with PBS.

"We also make up and give each other a kiss before we go to sleep still in bed. And we always read the Bible every night, which adds a different aspect to life. So, we really try to become completely reconciled each night before we go to sleep," Carter added.

In their 2014 interview with People, Carter confirmed they had been reading to each other every night for 40 years.

In a statement in February 2023, the Carter Center said he "has the full support of his family and his medical team" while receiving at-home hospice care.

In May 2023, their grandson Jason Carter said Carter remained in good spirits and was enjoying peanut-butter ice cream, the Associated Press reported.

"The Carter family is sharing that former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia," the organization wrote in a statement on its website in May 2023. "She continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones."

It added, "We hope sharing our family's news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor's offices around the country."

In a statement, the Carter Center wrote that Rosalynn Carter died "peacefully, with her family by her side" at home in Plains, Georgia.

"Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished," Jimmy Carter said of his wife of 77 years. "She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me."

At Rosalynn Carter's memorial service in Atlanta, Carter attended the event with a blanket over his legs embroidered with images of himself and Rosalynn, captioned "The Carters."

The blanket's design also honored their hometown with the words "Plains, Georgia, Est. 1855" and dogwood flowers that grow throughout Georgia.

Carter slept at the Carter Center the night before the memorial service because "he never wants to be very far from her," Paige Smith, the Carter Center's CEO, told the Associated Press.

Carter died in Plains, Georgia, at the home he once shared with Rosalynn.

"My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love," Chip Carter said in a statement released by The Carter Center. "My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs."