ATLANTA — Mourners have been visiting the Carter Center to pay their respects to former President Jimmy Carter as he lies in repose.
People visited the Carter Center throughout the night and into the morning to view his casket.
Some stood and quietly reflected in front of the sign in front of the center.
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Arlene Sherman Lewis drove from Stone Mountain with her 12-year-old grandson Anthony.
“President Carter amplified love, peace, joy, humanity - and those are things I treasure and those are things I try to teach my son,” she told Channel 2′s Bryan Mims.
She never met Carter, but the words he spoke to the world in his Georgia cadence went straight to her heart.
As she stood by the flag-covered coffin, she wept.
She said she tried to hold in the tears.
“But when I walked up and saw it, it was like this overwhelming presence of a person who meant so much to the world,” she said.
Susan Bertram walked to the Carter Center from her home down the road.
“Well, I was just a little kid when Carter was president. He was just an admirable man,” she said. “I started to cry. It was very touching.”
“Very serene moment, very quiet, very peaceful,” Zebie Grayson told Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco.
She was there to visit with her daughter Sunday.
A warm spotlight shines on Carter’s casket. It is covered with an American flag. A member of each branch of the military stands around it, and guards change every 30 minutes.
The public is invited to the viewing at any time while he is in repose in Atlanta. However, on Sunday, the Carter family specifically invited the Carter Center Board of Trustees and Friends, the Consuls General of Atlanta, and leaders from Emory University.
Former State Rep. Erick Allen was also there.
“It’s inspiring. It’s uplifting,” Allen said. “It gives us all something to look at and think about, ‘What is our legacy? What are we going to do and leave?’”
Some take time to view the museum exhibits during their visit. Most said they were able to move through in 15 to 20 minutes, and in that short time, some said they left changed.
“It just reminded us of how short life is and important our contributions are to society,” Grayson said.
Carter will lie in repose until 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
Until then, mourners can visit the center to pay their respects any time of day or night.
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