The Latest Breaking News from Plains

PLAINS, Ga. — “To me, he’s a friend. To a lot of us here, he’s just a churchgoer that sits on the same pews,” said Zac Steele, one of the lay leaders of Maranatha Baptist Church, the congregation where Carter long taught Sunday school lessons until his health declined.

After a series of short hospital stays, the statement said, Carter “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”

PLAINS, Ga.—Early Tuesday morning, Ron Hobkirk, Brennan Morris and Henry Smith ventured out of the woods behind the old Jimmy Carter Boyhood Home carrying what would soon be a Christmas tree.

Former President Jimmy Carter planned a simple 98th birthday celebration with family, friends and the Atlanta Braves. But the well-wishes extended far beyond his Plains, Georgia, home.