PLAINS, Ga. (WALB) - Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, have been sweethearts since birth.

From the small town of Plains, the couple has experienced life from the South Georgia countryside to the Oval Office.

Rosalynn and Ruth Carter, Jimmy’s younger sister, were close childhood friends.

Rosalynn knew Jimmy.

But love had not taken its course until 1945. Rosalynn studied at Georgia Southwestern College, while Jimmy attended Georgia Institute of Technology finishing his final year.

“I think I fell in love first with the photograph,” Rosalynn said.

Stunned by her beauty at just 17, Jimmy was sure he had met the love of his life after a first date to the movies and a first kiss.

“I went home and told my mother, ‘she`s the one, I’m going to marry her.’”

He continued to court Rosalynn. By the winter, he proposed after returning to school. However, Rosalynn was more concerned about graduating from school — but that never stopped Jimmy. As persistent as he was, they later engaged the following spring. Jimmy presented her with a token of his love by furnishing a compact engraved with the letters, “ILYTG,” an infamous meaning for the Carter family — “I love you the goodest.”

Jimmy and Rosalynn announced their marriage after his graduation on July 7, 1946, at Plains Methodist Church.

Soon enough, they were already experiencing life by moving to Norfolk, Va. for Jimmy`s first naval assignment. Rosalynn then gave birth to their first child.

The couple was deployed to Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.

Couples often do not agree with every choice made. The frequent moving came to a halt after the death of Jimmy`s father in 1953. He quickly decided to return home and resign from the Navy to start new ventures concerning his family`s finances, including the family’s peanut farm.

Rosalynn was still trying to find her place as his wife. Not pleased by this decision — however, at the right time, she began to feel confident and helped run a farm to assemble financial gain.

Becoming content with life in Georgia, Rosalynn did begin to learn to play her role as Georgia`s first lady when Jimmy was elected the 76th governor of the Peach State. Rosalynn advocated for mental illness, which gave her a voice.

She became the first presidential spouse to initiate getting her own office in the East Wing of the White House. This allowed her to sit in on cabinet meetings and advise staff and other personnel, while also creating adventures with former first ladies before her, Betty Ford and Lady Bird Johnson, who worked hard to advance equal rights amendments.

Jimmy was adamant about proving his love for Rosalynn — even doing so in the middle of a press conference by introducing his wife`s work while also introducing his own.

Jimmy referred to Rosalynn as a “perfect extension of himself.”

In 1980, Jimmy lost reelection to Ronald Reagan. Rosalynn was more ruined than Jimmy.

“I liked for him to be president. I felt safe about my country,” she said. “I remember standing on the lawn when he had a visiting head of state and I would well up inside because I was so thankful he was there taking care of things.”

Returning home, they founded the Carter Center and got heavily involved in Habitat for Humanity.

In 2002, Jimmy was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for his continuous contributions to his undeniable fight for human rights and aiding democracy, along with showing progression in areas of economic and social development.

In March 2019, Jimmy was deemed the longest-living president.

From life in Plains to the White House, to the countless hours of humanitarian work, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have been by each other side since the beginning and you wouldn’t see one of them without the other one right beside them.

A true, perfect extension of one another.

This story was compiled with reporting from the New York Times and the Atlanta Journal Consitution, along with information from biography.com.

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