Rosalynn Carter

American First Lady from 1977 to 1981 as the wife of Jimmy Carter who was sworn in as U.S. President on 20 January 1977. For the decades she was in public service, she was a leading advocate for numerous causes, including mental health.

As a teenager, her beloved dad died and her grandmother the same year and her mother had a struggle. She married Carter on 7 July 1946. They had four children, John (born 3 July 1947), James (12 April 1950), Jeff, (18 August 1952) and Amy (19 October 1967).

After her husband's retirement, Rosalynn wrote that she thought they'd go home and be bored for the rest of their lives, but they simply did not have the time. She and Jimmy were both too busy with civic and philanthropic activities such as Habitat for Humanity, a network of volunteers who build homes for the needy. They jointly wrote a 1987 best-seller Everything to Gain, Making the Most of The Rest of Your Life. With a generous, practical, hands-on approach to life, she founded the Rosalynn Carter Institute at Georgia College in Americus, a research institute of the care giving process, a lifelong interest of hers. Her third book came out in 1994, Helping Yourself Help Others, A Book for Caregivers. She was petite, purposeful, serious, a little formal in interviews as a result of youthful shyness, but warm and open about her family.

In 1998, she put out her Helping Someone With Mental Illness (Times Books). Erasing the stigma of mental illness was one of her priorities. As the nation's first lady, she was honorary chair of the President's Commission on Mental Health, whose work resulted in passage of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980, which advocated health insurance coverage for the mentally and ill and their protection against discrimination.

Rosalynn Carter was the second-longest-lived first lady after Bess Truman, and was the longest-married first lady. She and her husband received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999.