Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter now the longest-married presidential couple

The Carters celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on July 7, 2016. Here are images from their amazing life together.

1946: Ensign Jimmy Carter gets help with his epaulets from fiancee Rosalynn, at left, and his mother Miss Lillian, right, when graduating from the Naval Academy. Jimmy and Rosalynn began dating in 1945 and married one month after this photo.

1946: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter pose on their wedding day. The couple, who had both attended Plains High School, met through a mutual friend when Jimmy Carter was serving in the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.

Jimmy Carter's active naval service lasted from 1946-1953. During that time, they lived in Norfolk, Va., and John, James and Jeffrey were born. In 1953, they took over the family peanut business in Plains, Ga. Daughter Amy was born in 1967.

Carter became a Georgia state senator in 1963, an office he would hold until 1967. In 1966, he ran for governor but lost the Democratic primary election. The couple are seen here, in 1966, on that otherwise disappointing election night.

Four years later, Jimmy Carter would be elected governor in 1970, on his second try. Here, he celebrates on election night with Rosalynn and his mother Miss Lillian.

Gov. Jimmy Carter and Georgia's new First Lady Rosalynn Carter dance at the 1971 inaugural ball at the Regency Hotel in downtown Atlanta.

Georgia's First Couple travel through South America in 1972. Decades later the couple would put their wanderlust to good use through the Carter Center.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter greet the crowd during the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden. They are joined by Walter Mondale and his wife Joan.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are all smiles at Jimmy's 1977 Presidential Inauguration. At their side is the outgoing President Gerald Ford and his wife Betty.

Jimmy, Amy, and Rosalynn Carter walk down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House after the 1977 inauguration ceremony.

The nation's First Couple poses on the White House lawn with daughter Amy in 1977.

In 1980, the last year of his term, President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter attend Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.

In 1982, the Carters founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to "improve life for people in more than 80 countries." Here, they are seen in Indonesia in 1999, on a trip to observe elections.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in their Plains home in 2002.

In 2007, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter wear traditional Ghanaian attire, a gift from the chief of Tingoli village in northern Ghana, during a field trip to assess Carter Center disease prevention work in Africa.

Former president Jimmy Carter gets a kiss from Rosalynn on his 85th birthday, in 2009, during the reopening of the Carter Presidential Museum after a major renovation.

Rosalynn Carter gets emotional during a dedication ceremony and birthday celebration with staff and guests at the Day Chapel of the Ivan Allen III Pavilion at the Carter Center, in 2014.

President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter join in the Festival Dance on Main Street during the 18th Annual Plains Peanut Festival onSept. 27, 2014, in Plains.

Jimmy Carter, 89, and his wife Rosalynn, 86, hold hands as they leave the Maranatha Baptist Church following church services on Sunday, June 15, 2014, in Plains.

Jimmy Carter sneaks a kiss with Rosalynn while the couple works on a Habitat for Humanity build in Memphis in 2015.

Jimmy Carter kisses Rosalynn on the "Kiss Cam" during a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays in Atlanta in 2015. Carter had recently announced his cancer diagnosis.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter talk about their years together in his office at the Carter Center in Atlanta in June 2016. They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary July 7, 2016.

October 21, 2019 at 2:39 a.m. UTC

By Tyler Estep, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

PLAINS, Ga. — As Jimmy often tells it, he was rebuffed the first time he proposed marriage to the then-Rosalynn Smith.

Eventually, thankfully, she surrendered to his peanut-farmer charm and became a Carter — a decision that would take them both to the Georgia Governor’s Mansion, the White House, foreign countries, even the cancer ward and pretty much everywhere in between.

Now, more than 73 years later, those committed youngsters from Plains have a new title: longest-married presidential couple.

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The Carter Center, the former president’s nonprofit based in Atlanta, made the announcement on Thursday. Jimmy and Rosalynn’s 26,765 days together (and counting) was a record, surpassing the mark that George H.W. and Barbara Bush had amassed before the latter died last year.

Jimmy Carter was just 21 when they married at Plains Methodist Church on July 7, 1946. Rosalynn was just 18.

Their latest milestone is just, well, their latest.

[PHOTOS: Jimmy Carter through the years]

There was the 73rd anniversary earlier this summer, of course. In March, Mr. Carter became the oldest living former president — an achievement that was very much in doubt after his cancer diagnosis in 2015.

Jimmy Carter turned 95 earlier this month. A few days later, he fell at home and had to get stitches above his eye.

But the former president was undaunted.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were in Nashville, Tennessee, a few days later for a scheduled build with Habitat for Humanity.

It marked the 36th year the couple had participated in such a project.

[PHOTOS: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter through the years]

This article was written by Tyler Estep, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.