Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter (center) walks President Joe Biden (right) and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden out after they after visited her and former President Jimmy Carter on Thursday in Plains, Georgia.Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/getty
PresidentJoe Bidenand First Lady Dr. Jill Biden dropped in for a visit Thursday at the Georgia home of former PresidentJimmy Carterand former First LadyRosalynn Carter.
Carter, 96, is the oldest living president and has largely remained in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, with Mrs. Carter, 93, throughout theCOVID-19pandemic.
“It was great to see President Carter,” President Biden, 78, told reporters on Thursday as he and his wife headed home after a subsequent rally in Atlanta. “He reminded me that I was the first person to endorse him outside of Georgia. And we sat and talked about the old days.”
The Bidens visited with the Carters for about an hour inside their home, according to reporters traveling with the president.
When the first couple left, Mrs. Carter walked them to the door of the Carters' Plains home.
President Carter was not visible, but Biden told reporters afterwards he was doing well.
“His health has gotten better,” Biden said. “I mean, he — you know, he’s really, it’s amazing. He keeps bouncing back.”
Biden said he and the former president “talked a little bit about cancer research and a few other things,” but that it was “just great to see him.”
Center, from left: Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter in church in February.Marantha Baptist Church/Facebook
President Joe Biden (right) picks a dandelion for First Lady Dr. Jill Biden as they walk to Marine One on the Ellipse near the White House on Thursday.Sarah Silbiger/Getty
President Carter has had multiple health challenges in recent years, including several falls and a 2019surgery for bleeding in his brain.
The couple did not attend Biden’s inauguration in January — the first time President Carter had missed the ceremony in four decades —but sent well wishes.
CNNreportedWhite House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told journalists on Air Force One on Thursday that the presidents spoke on the phone the night before Biden was sworn into office in January.
The Carters recently resumed attending their usual Sunday church services after getting fully vaccinated.
The couple celebrated 74 years of marriage in 2020 — the longest union of any first couple in U.S. history.
“It’s hard to live until you’re 95 years old,” President Carter told PEOPLE in 2019, crediting his wife, in part, for his continued vigor. “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.”
source: people.com
