THE ROMANTIC LIFE OF PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER AND ROSALYN CARTER

The couple, who met when Jimmy was 3 years old and Rosalynn was a newborn, wed on July 7, 1946, and were married for 77 years. Throughout their nearly eight decades together, the Carters welcomed four children, who gave Jimmy and Rosalynn 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

The pair shared a slew of ups, downs and adventures — including several Navy deployments, a presidential campaign and subsequent time in office, co-authoring books, managing his family farm and building houses around the globe with Habitat for Humanity.

President Carter told his mother he wanted to exchange wedding vows with Rosalynn after their first date. "The best thing I ever did was marrying Rosalynn," the Nobel Peace Prize winner said in a 2015 interview. "That's the pinnacle of my life."

The former president died on Dec. 29 at age 100, the Carter Center announced on X and his son James confirmed. The nation's 39th president was moved to hospice care in February 2023 and shortly after, his wife Rosalynn entered hospice care in November 2023 amid a dementia diagnosis. Rosalynn died on Nov. 19, 2023, and was buried at the couple's home in Plains, Georgia, where President Carter was put to rest next to her in 2025

From their childhood in Georgia to the White House and beyond, here's what to know about Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's relationship.

August 19, 1927: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter meet
How many people can say they met their soul mate within their first 24 hours on this planet? Jimmy and Rosalynn first met when he was 3 years old and she was just one day old, according to NPR. Their parents were close friends and neighbors, and Jimmy's mother, Bessie Lillian Carter, helped deliver Rosalynn, according to Biography.com. In fact, one of Rosalynn's sisters is named Lillian after Jimmy's mother.

The pair grew up in Plains, Georgia, and Rosalynn became good friends with Jimmy's sister Ruth.

Summer 1945: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter go on their first date
Jimmy Carter, Democratic presidential candidate, and his wife, Rosalynn, share a moment aboard his campaign plane

While 20-year-old Jimmy was home for the summer before starting his final year of college in Annapolis, Maryland, his plans with another girl fell through. He ran into his sister's best friend Rosalynn, then 17 and home after her first year in college, and invited her to the movies on the spot.

The Carters don't remember what movie they saw on their first date, but they do remember being smitten.

"I just felt compatible with her. She was beautiful and innocent, and there was a resonance," Jimmy told writers Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas for their book What Makes A Marriage Last. "We rode in the rumble seat of a Ford pickup — Ruth and her boyfriend in the front — and I kissed her on that first date. I remember that vividly."

In a poem from his 1995 book Always a Reckoning, Jimmy recalled his feelings on his and Rosalynn's first date, writing, "I'd pay to sit behind her, blind to what / was on the screen, and watch the image flicker / on her hair." After their first date, Jimmy told his mother that he was going to marry Rosalynn.

May 1946: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter get engaged
U.S President Jimmy Carter and U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter dancing at an Inaugural Ball, Washington, D.C., USA, Marion S. Trikosko, January 20, 1977

The Carters' romance proceeded at a whirlwind pace following their first date, even after Rosalynn and Jimmy each went back to school. In winter 1945, less than a year after their first date, Jimmy proposed to Rosalynn. She said no because she wanted to focus on her education, but in May 1946, he popped the question again and she said yes. Jimmy gifted Rosalynn a compact engraved with "ILYTG," an acronym for the Carter family's saying, "I love you the goodest."

"Now all our children do the same thing — ILYTG on the phone or in emails," Jimmy said. "They generally just put the initials. And sometimes they change the initials and make you guess what they're talking about."

Jimmy And Rosalynn Carter Embrace, 1976. Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter embraces his wife Rosalynn after receiving the final news of his victory in the national general election,
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter on election night in 1976.

Jimmy and Rosalynn tied the knot on July 7, 1946, at the Plains Methodist Church in their hometown of Plains, Georgia. The wedding took place mere weeks after Jimmy graduated from the Naval Academy. The newlyweds moved to Norfolk, Virginia, shortly after their nuptials for Jimmy's first naval assignment. The family would move several times in accordance with his military postings, including to California, Hawaii, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Just before their first wedding anniversary, Jimmy and Rosalynn welcomed their first child, son John William "Jack" Carter, on July 3, 1947, in Portsmouth, Virginia. Jack later served in the Vietnam War and ran for Senate in 2006.

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