Jimmy Carter’s funeral procession makes its way through Sumter County

PLAINS – A crowd of mourners gathered to pay their respects as former president Jimmy Carter’s casket made its way through downtown Plains Saturday morning. 

People arrived as early as 6 a.m., bundled in coats and hats, to find a place along the barricaded street and to walk around historic markers telling the story of the U.S. president from Plains who died at 100 on Dec. 29. 

The Carter family arrived at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, GA. They departed in a motorcade with the former president’s remains in a hearse to make the trip through Plains. The motorcade paused at Jimmy Carter’s birthplace, the Boyhood Farm, where the National Park Service honored the late president with a salute and ringing of the historic farm bell 39 times.

The ceremony attracted visitors from near and far, but it was a moment of reflection especially for south Georgia natives who hold personal anecdotes with and an immense amount of pride for Carter. 

Keaymonda Hollis, a 44-year-old Plains native, came back home to Plains with his wife and three daughters. He walked along the same streets he roamed as a child.

Hollis said his family had personal ties with the Carters.

His grandfather, George Hollis, was mentioned in Carter’s first book as one of his African American childhood friends. His great grandmother was a caretaker for Carter children. 

As a 12-year-old boy, Hollis said he and a group of black school kids from Plains worked with Jimmy Carter to build the local Boys and Girls Club. After their work was completed, Hollis said he and the youth drove in the presidential suburban with the Carters to eat hotdogs and French fries at a popular spot in Americus.

“So, I had to be here today,” he said. “For someone such as a president to come from your hometown, I mean, we took pride in it. It was motivation.”  

Mattie Underwood and Cynthia Donaldson made the hour-long journey from Columbus to bid the former president farewell. Underwood, 79, is a native of Webster County. Her father, a farm worker, used to bring loads of peanuts into Plains. Underwood said she ran into Carter often before he became president. 

The two arrived in Plains at 6 a.m. to beat the crowd. They posed for photos in front of a memorial statue.

“We’ll never see this again in our lifetime,” Donaldson said.

Donaldson said she admired that Carter returned to Plains after his presidency.

“He walked through the streets just like everybody else,” she said. “He was a very amazing person. He had his hands on everybody.”

Eugene Edge, the Sumter County NAACP’s president, was among the crowd Saturday. He said he was just 10 years old when Carter was elected as the U.S. President.

He recalled when people would ask him where he was from, and he’d proudly reply “Plains, Georgia.”

“Everybody knew Plains because of President Carter,” Edge said. “Carter made Plains.”

Edge said he remembers Carter who stood up for racial equality. Carter served on the Sumter County Board of Education, becoming president in 1960. Edge said William Powell, a black school board member, was removed from his position for his affiliation with the NAACP.

“President Carter was the only one that stepped in and stood up for him, and he was able to get his job back,” Edge said. 

The NAACP president carried a stack of papers with an old newspaper article copied on them. The story detailed a historical marker that was being placed in the community of Archery in honor of William Johnson, bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and who established a school for black youths who lacked resources for an education in the area.

Archer was a predominantly black community and is also the precise location of Carter’s “Boyhood Farm.” Carter’s family was one of two permanent white families living in a neighborhood of about 25 black families. 

Carter is pictured with a young Edge in the article. Edge told him that he wanted to eventually establish a similar trade school for underserved youth in honor of the former president. 

Edge said the Sumter County NAACP will continue to carry on Carter’s legacy locally – one that prioritized the disenfranchised and the poor. 

Alvin Lisle traveled from Warner Robins with his wife to witness the event.

Lisle said Carter was president when he first moved to the U.S. from Jamaica. He said he remembers the president as a humanitarian who looked out for those in need and prioritized peace.

“We need more like President Carter,” he said. “Now, there is too much division.”

By 10 a.m. there were a couple of hundred people lining the street in anticipation for Carter’s motorcade. When the former president’s casket finally arrived at about 10:45, the street became silent. 

The crowd waved American flags and held posters honoring the late president. They craned their phones to snap a picture of the historic event. 

Hours of waiting ended in just minutes but the crowds lingered in reflection.