The funeral of former first lady Rosalynn Carter will be Wednesday in the home church of President and Mrs. Carter in Plains.
Maranatha Baptist Church was founded in the late 1970s, holding its first service May 22, 1977, during the first year of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, according to the church website.
It is a small red brick church (reported capacity of just over 400) with stained glass windows, a white steeple and wood trim and a broad grass lawn. The name “Maranatha” means “Lord, Come!” in Aramaic.
Connections to the Carter family are many. Rosalynn Carter, a deacon who also taught Sunday school, was founder of a food distribution ministry for local families in need, the church website says.
In addition to teaching Sunday school classes, Jimmy Carter was known to help with odd jobs, including mowing the grass. Carter, a famous homebuilding volunteer, crafted a wooden cross that stands in the sanctuary. He also made wooden trays used to collect offerings during church services.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The Carters became a regular presence at Maranatha after leaving the White House in 1981.
In recent years, until 2019 health problems for Jimmy Carter and the COVID-19 lockdown, the Sunday morning church service and Sunday school became a tourist attraction of sorts, with volunteers coordinating the parking and a line for a coveted seat in the sanctuary that required arrival in Plains as early as 6 a.m. on many Sundays, according to previous coverage by the AJC.
Entry to the church by visitors began with a Secret Service screening on days when the Carters were attending.
The Sunday school classes swelled beyond capacity after Jimmy Carter’s cancer diagnosis in 2015, filling the sanctuary and an overflow room with a TV screen view of the class. The Carters would stay to pose for pictures with visitors.
Sunday school at the church is now taught by the Carters’ niece, Kim Carter Fuller, but as recently as this week, the church website listed the class as “Jimmy Carter’s Sunday School Class with Kim Carter Fuller.”
Jimmy Carter, 99, entered home hospice in Plains in February. Rosalynn, 96, and Jimmy’s wife of 77 years, died on Nov. 19. The former first couple rarely ventured out in public in the past year, but were able to watch Sunday school and church service from their home.
Without the Carters in attendance, there have been many Sundays when fewer than 30 people have come to Maranatha. Plains barely has more than 500 residents, spread across about a dozen churches.
The Rev. Tony Lowden, who came to Maranatha in 2019 as its first Black pastor, quietly left in October of 2021. Since then, services have been conducted by a rotating collection of visiting preachers.
Listen to a 2018 podcast with reporter Jill Vejnoska about the Carters’ church
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