Rosalynn Carter

Vocation

Lifestyle

Notable

Traits

Family

American First Lady, the wife of Jimmy Carter who was sworn in as U.S. President 1/20/1977. As a teenager, her beloved dad died and her grandmom the same year and her mom had a struggle. She married Carter 7/07/1946; four kids, John, born 7/03/1947, James, 4/12/1950, Jeff, 8/18/1952 and Amy, 10/19/1967. 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 are 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." At 68 she is 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 has long been 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. Link to Wikipedia biography