Former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral procession passed through Plains on January 4, then paused at the Boyhood Farm before heading to Atlanta.

The morning began with a chill. The Plains Christmas tree shone in the early morning, as it did during Rosalynn Carter’s funeral. A bouquet of flowers lay on the condolence book that the Carter Center had placed in front of the Plains Inn. Several pages of signatures had already been penned.

The funeral procession entered Plains around 10:48 am. Bystanders flanked the temporary metal barriers, many of them holding American flags.

LeAnne Smith, Rosalynn Carter’s niece, witnessed the procession. “You want to be here, you know, and see it and, but then it’s kind of like the finality of all of it is in place.”

Smith expressed her grief at Carter’s passing. “When Aunt Rosalynn died, it was hard.” She had one consolation at the time. “I was thinking, well, Uncle Jimmy’s still here.”

For Smith, the repercussions of his death are not only personal but global. “It’s like an era ended, and I don’t know what’s coming.”

Smith did appreciate the timing. “I’m kind of excited, if you can be excited in this moment in time, that the flags will be at half-staff when my uncle is buried through the inauguration.”

Cody Munson, who worked on the sculpture honoring Rosalynn Carter, Dancing Monarchs, also bore witness to the funeral procession. He described the craftmanship and care that went into the piece. “I concentrated very heavily on the flow of movement and the look and the feel of natural replication.”

Munson recalled meeting the Carters during installation. “I had a chance to meet many of them, and felt very blessed for that.” Munson stated he had become especially close to LeAnne Smith. “We’re working on some other projects together to continue Jimmy Carter’s legacy, and to promote the essence of what he was all about.”

He recalled meeting Jimmy Carter when the sculpture was unveiled in honor of Rosalynn Carter’s 95 birthday. “They came to the unveiling of it, and there was a ceremony, and I got a chance to sit down and have a conversation with Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn, and that was a really special moment in my life.”

Munson described his feelings after watching the funeral procession. “That was really special for me actually. I admired Jimmy Carter so much as a person and what he strived to accomplish and how he acted, that to have a chance to see this last seeing-off of him from his hometown, it was very heartfelt.”

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