12/29/2025 --axios
Nearly a century ago, Jimmy Carter was just a boy with a horse named Lady, living his best life in rural Georgia. The latest: On Tuesday, the nation's longest-living president turned 100 in his hometown of Plains. He entered hospice care in February 2023.It's been nearly a year since his wife of almost eight decades, Rosalynn, died.The big picture: Jimmy Carter went on to join the U.S. Navy, serve in the state Capitol, live in the Georgia governor's mansion and White House, and travel the world. After leaving the White House, the couple founded the Atlanta-based nonprofit Carter Center to carry on their work of "waging peace, fighting disease and building hope."But as with many great life arcs, Carter wound up where he started back in Plains, teaching Sunday school at his hometown Baptist church until just a few years ago.Details: Take a quick stroll through Carter's life in photos below, then open the links that follow for more extensive photo galleries from our fellow Cox Enterprises-owned publication, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Around 1928 — Jimmy Carter, the farm boy A young Jimmy Carter rides his Shetland pony named Lady at the family farm near Plains, Ga. The Carter family moved to the 350-acre farm in 1928, when Jimmy was about 4 years old. Photo: Jimmy Carter Library/AJC files1937 — The older brother Gloria, 10, Jimmy, 12, and Ruth, 6, in 1937. Photo: Chicago Sun-Times/AJC files1946 — The naval officer Jimmy with his future wife, Rosalynn (left), and mother, Lillian, at his Annapolis commissioning in the 1940s. Photo: Chicago Sun-Times/AJC files1970 — The Georgia governor Carter was elected governor of Georgia in 1970 in his second campaign for the office. Photo: Jimmy Carter Library/AJC files1974 — The sports fan Carter presents Atlanta Braves legend Hank Aaron with a personalized license plate to celebrate Aaron's 715th career home run, which broke Babe Ruth's record. Photo: Getty Images1976 — The Democratic nominee Jimmy and Rosalynn Cater wave to delegates at the 1976 Democratic National Convention after Carter clinched the presidential nomination. Photo: James Garrett/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images1979 — The 39th president At a summit meeting in Vienna, Austria, on June 18, 1979, President Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II treaty specifying guidelines and limitations for nuclear weapons. Photo: Jimmy Carter Library/AJC files1994 — The peacekeeper Carter and then-North Korean leader Kim Il Sung met in Pyongyang for talks resulting in an eight-year freeze of the country’s nuclear weapons program in 1994. Photo: The Carter Center/AJC files1998 — The Habitat worker Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter attach siding to the front of a Habitat for Humanity home in LaGrange, Ga., in 2003. More than 90 homes were built in LaGrange, Valdosta, and Anniston, Ala., during Habitat for Humanity International's annual Jimmy Carter Work Project that year. Photo: Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images2007 — The humanitarian Carter consoles a young patient having a worm removed from her body in Savelugu, Ghana, in February 2007. The Carter Center leads the international campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease. Photo: The Carter Center/AJC files2014 — The Sunday school teacher Carter shares a laugh with the congregation before beginning his Sunday school lesson at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains in June 2014. Photo: Curtis Compton/AJC 📸 Go deeper with the AJC: Carter through the years ... Jimmy and Rosalynn ... Early years ... Early political career ... Carter's presidency ... Habitat work ... and more.