“Each one of us can make a difference. It doesn’t take a former first lady or a former president of the United States to make a difference in our communities.”
-- Rosalynn Carter
Rosalynn
by Jimmy Carter
From Always a Reckoning
She'd smile, and birds would feel that they no longer
had to sing, or it may be I failed
to hear their song.
Within a crowd, I'd hope her glance might be
for me, but I knew that she was shy, and wished
to be alone.
I'd pay to sit behind her, blind to what
was on the screen, and watch the image flicker
upon her hair.
I'd glow when her diminished voice would clear
the muddled thoughts, like lightening flashing in
a gloomy sky.
The nothing in my soul with her aloof
was changed to foolish fullness when she came
to be with me.
With shyness gone and hair caressed with gray,
her smile still makes the birds forget to sing
and me to hear their song.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, a passionate champion of mental health, caregiving, and women’s rights, passed away Sunday, Nov. 19, at 2:10 p.m. at her home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 96. She died peacefully, with family by her side.
Mrs. Carter was married for 77 years to Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States and the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, who is now 99 years old.
“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” President Carter said. “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.” Continue reading from The Carter Center
When feminists lobbied for constitutional protection of women’s rights in the late 1970s, they found a supporter in the White House. But the quiet impetus behind former President Jimmy Carter’s backing the Equal Rights Amendment was his wife, Rosalynn Carter.
“Rosalynn Carter was deeply invested in the struggle and fight for ERA,” said Elizabeth Flowers, associate professor of religion. “She views one of the biggest regrets of the Carter presidency, and her role in that, as the failure to pass the ERA.”
In 1972, before Carter’s presidency, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, giving the states until 1979 to ratify it. Congress extended the deadline to 1982, but the amendment still fell three states short of adoption. Continue reading from TCU Magazine
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