Late president’s trip remembered 44 years later
As Former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral procession from Georgia to Washington, D.C. ends with the 39th president at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Jan. 9, the Standard- Radio Post wanted to share with readers his historical visit to Stonewall and Fredericksburg in April 8, 1981.
Thursday has been declared a National Day of Mourning and all federal government agencies and departments will be closed in wake of the former president’s death. This includes the U.S. Postal Service.
The former president and Rosalynn Carter visited the LBJ National Historical Park and the LBJ State Park and Historic Site as the guest of Lady Bird Johnson on a Wednesday in April 1981.
They flew into Austin from Plains, Georgia, then flew into the LBJ Ranch.
The purpose of their visit was to tour different facilities to get ideas for similar installations planned to honor President Carter in Georgia.
On Thursday, the Carters toured the LBJ Library and School of Public Affairs in Austin and attended various meetings with library officials.
At the LBJ Ranch, the Carters were briefed by Alec Gould, superintendent of the LBJ National Historical Park, and Harold Woods, superintendent of the LBJ State Park and Historic Site.
Woods said, the Carters, Mrs. Johnson, aides to President Carter and Secret Service personnel went by motorcade to Johnson City where Gould conducted a tour of those facilities.
The motorcade arrived at the LBJ State Park and Historic Site shortly after 4:30 p.m., where they first were taken on a drive by the Sauer-Beckmann Farm and viewed the buffalo grazing near that site.
Woods said that the buffalo were brought to the fence since Rosalynn Carter had expressed a special interest to see them and the white-tailed deer that were kept in enclosures in this section of the park.
The party then arrived in the oval in front of the Visitor Center from where they went directly to that facility and were taken on tour by Woods.
The Carters expressed special interest in the exhibits and asked many questions.
The special exhibit on Fredericksburg impressed Carter, who showed special interest in the unique shape of the old steamboat hotel that houses the Admiral Nimitz Center. The former chief executive is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.
He asked numerous questions about Fredericksburg and especially the Admiral Nimitz Center and learned for the first time that Admiral Nimitz was a native of Fredericksburg.
Former First Lady Rosalynn “steel magnolia” Carter, was a champion of mental health, caregiving and women’s rights. She died Nov. 19, 2023, at 2:10 p.m., at her home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 96.
Mrs. Carter was married for 77 years to Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, died Sunday, Dec. 29, at his home in Plains, Georgia. He was 100, the longest-lived president in U.S. history.
Carter’s state funeral will be held at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday, Jan. 9, after a procession from Georgia.
He will be buried in a private ceremony in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
