Today the nation said farewell to President Jimmy Carter. The 39th president of the United States died at age 100 on December 29, 2024. He was the longest-living U.S. president in our country’s history. 

All five living presidents were in attendance at the National Cathedral as were several of their vice presidents, other world leaders, members of the Carter administration, and the Carter family. The service included touching stories from grandsons Joshua and Jason Carter, eulogies written by the late Gerald Ford and Walter Mondale, read by their sons, as well as one by President Biden. 

There were also several musical tributes and a homily delivered by former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Reverend Andrew Young. Each of these details were scrupulously planned by Carter himself. Another distinguished participant was President Carter’s pastor, Tony Lowden. 

Lowden was the longtime personal pastor for the Carters and served as pastor at the family’s beloved Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains. He will also preside over the private, smaller service in Georgia this afternoon as the former president is laid to rest next to his beloved wife. 

Just ahead of the public funeral in D.C., Lowden spoke to CBS News anchor Nora O’Donnell from the motorcade escorting Carter to the service. 

O’Donnell asked the pastor what he had learned through his friendship with the former president and Lowden replied that the most important lesson he learned was, “it’s not for self, but for country. He was all about serving this nation all the way to the end.”

“Every time I would go visit him he would ask me four questions. Where have you been? What have you done? Who have you helped? And how can I help you help them?” He noted that as Carter became weaker in his last visits, he would only get out the first question, but Lowden knew he was being asked to answer all four questions and he always did. 

In 2019, just after the former president celebrated his 95th birthday, he suffered a fall that sent him to the hospital. He was scheduled to travel to Nashville to participate in a Habitat for Humanity build, something for which both Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were very passionate. Lowden recalled visiting him immediately after the accident. 

“I remember when he fell one day right before he was supposed to go to Tennessee to his Habitat build. And the Secret Service and staff told me to go into the hospital and tell him he shouldn’t go to Tennessee. But, I got there, I went into the room and said ‘President Carter, I don’t think you should go to Tennessee to build.’ He said, ‘Listen Tony. Hospitals are just like prisons. They’re easy to get into and hard to get out. I need you to help me get out of this hospital so that I can keep my word and go build homes for those who need homes.’”

Lowden continued, “And the most amazing thing about all that, he had this big bandage over his eye. He had a black eye and he was determined to get to Tennessee to keep his word. And I believe that all the years that he put his left hand on the Bible and raised his right hand when he was a state senator, he did the same thing when he was in the Navy. He did the same thing when he was governor of Georgia. And he did the same thing when he was president of the United States. In his mind and in his spirit, he never took his hand off that Bible because he made a covenant with his God that he would serve this great nation and serve the world.”

The pastor told O’Donnell that while he was grieving the loss of a friend and someone he loves, he knows his life was forever changed by him. 

“I no longer look at life the way that I used to. I look at it as my life belongs to our nation and this world to serve. And I hope that today is not just a celebration but our nation, we pick up the mantle. We pick up the legacy of Jimmy Carter and we take it to the next level.”