Jill Biden remembers Rosalynn Carter for efforts with mental health, caregiving

First lady Jill Biden on Sunday remembered former first lady Rosalynn Carter for her efforts with mental health, caregiving and women’s rights while meeting with service members and their families in Norfolk, Va.

“[Rosalynn] was well known for her efforts on mental health and caregiving and women’s rights,” Biden said, standing alongside President Biden.

“So I hope that during the holidays, you’ll … include the Carter family in your prayers,” the first lady continued.

Rosalynn Carter, the wife of former President Carter, died earlier Sunday at the age of 96. The Carter Center said the former first lady passed away at her home in Plains, Ga., about two days after she entered hospice care.

Biden and the first lady were in Norfolk, Va., visiting naval installations ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday week. The president and first lady hosted an early screening for the movie “Wonka” and participated in a “friendsgiving” meal with service members and their families.

The event, with service members from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Gerald R. Ford and their families, is part of the White House’s Joining Forces Initiative.

Rosalynn was diagnosed with dementia in March, around a month after her husband himself entered hospice care following a series of hospital stays.

Rosalynn Carter was known as an advocate for various humanitarian issues, notably for her efforts to improve mental health care and caregiving.

Earlier this year, President Biden, 80, revealed the former president asked him to deliver his eulogy when he dies.

“I spent time with Jimmy Carter, and it’s finally caught up with him, but they found a way to keep him going for a lot longer than they anticipated because they found a breakthrough,” Biden said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in March. “He asked me to do his eulogy.”

Jimmy Carter, 99, was diagnosed in 2015 with melanoma that spread to his liver and brain, but by the end of the year he was cancer-free after undergoing radiation therapy and cancer immunotherapy. He is the oldest former living president in U.S. history.

The Bidens visited the Carters at their Georgia home in 2021 in a private meeting between the oldest-lived former president and the oldest serving president.