It should come as no surprise that former President Jimmy Carter has elected to spend his last days, months, or years in the comfort and familiarity of his home town of Plains, Georgia. Jimmy, as he has preferred to be called, was at heart a small-town guy, as I quickly learned when I, along with the fraternity of exhausted souls, covered his campaign during those five grueling years from 1972 to 1976.

Carter has always been a person of faith and family, as has his devoted wife Rosalyn, who became the first lady of the country. She accepted that role almost literally on a wing and a prayer, as a devoted Christian who accompanied her husband and was always the supportive wife. When she became a Baptist at the church where he often preached, she cited that fact more proudly than that she had become the first lady of the country.