SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The first day of funeral services for former President Jimmy Carter has begun in Georgia. Carter died this past Sunday at age 100. Over the next six days, across nearly 1,400 miles of travel by car and plane, the nation's 39th president will be honored in various key places from his life, including Atlanta.
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MOREHOUSE COLLEGE GLEE CLUB: (Singing) O hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea.
DETROW: That's the Navy hymn being sung by the Morehouse College Glee Club at a ceremony at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. NPR's Stephen Fowler is covering it all and joins us now from Atlanta. Hey, Stephen.
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: So Carter's funeral procession started this morning in the tiny town of Americus, Georgia. What did that look like?
FOWLER: So current and former special agents who were in charge of Carter's Secret Service detail throughout his life carried Carter's casket to a hearse at the Phoebe Putney Hospital in Americus. From there, that motorcade drove down the road to Plains where Carter was born and raised and spent most of his 100 years of life. They stopped at the Jimmy Carter Boyhood Home. From there, there was a ceremony where National Park staffers rang the farmhouse bell 39 times for the 39th president.
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FOWLER: That procession wound its way through the back roads of southwest Georgia on the interstate up to Atlanta. Carter was a state senator and governor of Georgia before his run for president, so there was a moment of silence at the state capital to pay tribute to that chapter of his life.
DETROW: As this itinerary lays out, state funerals like these are rich with symbolism that goes down to the choice of speakers and songs and locations. Coming up, Carter's body will lie in repose through Tuesday morning at the Carter Presidential Center. What's the significance there?
FOWLER: Carter is likely going to be remembered more for his four decades of postpresidential humanitarian work than his four years as president. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He wrote poetry. He volunteered building houses with Habitat For Humanity, taught Sunday school at his church and spoke to college students year after year. Carter's grandson Jason put it this way at today's ceremony.
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JASON CARTER: We will spend this week celebrating this incredible life and a life that, I think we can all agree, is as full and powerful as any life can be. As someone said, it's amazing what you can cram into 100 years.
FOWLER: He's most known for using his Carter Center nonprofit, started in 1982, to advocate for democracy around the world and push for better public health outcomes. Here's one example. Carter said he wanted to out live the guinea worm virus, and after three-plus decades of work, it's been nearly eradicated. At the Carter family request, the ceremony today included staff members who worked on those efforts, including a prayer from Bernstine Hollis, one of the Center's first employees and a longtime family friend.
And Scott, the Center's location itself is a lot like Carter's life and legacy. Instead of a big flashy center, it's an understated compound tucked into a background of trees just outside of downtown Atlanta. It's home to the Carter Center offices, his presidential library and a farmers market on the weekends.
DETROW: And this all culminates on Thursday with a national funeral service in Washington, D.C. Tell us what we know about the rest of the plans over the coming days.
FOWLER: After Carter finishes lying in repose on Tuesday, he'll leave Georgia, go to D.C. and, more specifically, the Navy memorial. He was a lieutenant in the Navy. He even served on a nuclear submarine. From there, his casket will travel to the U.S. Capitol and lie in state for a few days before his funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral next Thursday. President Biden is expected to deliver a eulogy. President-elect Trump says he plans to be there, too. Then he will head back to Georgia for one more church service at his Maranatha Baptist Church. And then he'll be buried in a private interment at the family home in Plains next to his wife, Rosalynn.
DETROW: That is NPR's Stephen Fowler speaking to us from Atlanta. Stephen, thanks so much.
FOWLER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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