PLAINS, Ga. — The town of Plains is preparing to say its first of two goodbyes to its favorite son, Jimmy Carter.
His funeral procession will travel through his hometown on Saturday morning.
Everyone in Plains will be out to see it.
Jan Williams sat on her front porch in Plains on Friday afternoon and spoke with Channel 2’s Richard Elliot.
Her home is not even one block from where Carter’s motorcade will pass Saturday morning and again next week.
“I think he’s happier. He’s been living pretty much in isolation. That’s not Jimmy Carter,” Williams told Elliot.
She’s known Carter all her life and even taught his children in school.
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Williams said she believes he’s in a better place because the last few years were tough.
“I was just so thankful that although his body was getting tired, he continued to have a good mind and keep up with what’s going on. ‘Go Braves,’ he always said,” Williams said.
Williams works at Maranatha Baptist Church where the former president used to attend and teach Sunday school until his health just prevented him from doing anymore.
She reminded Elliot that Carter’s last Sunday School lesson was about dying.
“He always said in church when god’s ready, he’s ready, and that was always a comfort for anybody that has a loved one that’s facing death. He talked about it. He wanted other people to be ready,” Williams said.
Like so many others in Plains, Williams will go down the street to watch the funeral procession on Saturday morning and when he makes his final journey back to his home next week.
“It’s very ironic that he’ll be carried away from a place that he loved so much and was allowed to be buried in this town he loved so much. God is good,” Williams said.
The motorcade will also pass by Carter’s boyhood home where he will get a salute from the National Park Rangers who work the site.
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