Rosalynn Carter Never Knew Life without Jimmy — She Met Her Future Husband as a Newborn

Rosalynn Carter spent the vast majority of her life – 77 years – married to former President Jimmy Carter, and by all accounts, she has no regrets.

Despite the immeasurable stress they faced at various points in their relationship, Jimmy and Rosalynn never broke down, always leaning on each other when the going got tough. DuBose Porter, a longtime friend and political ally of the Carters, once told PEOPLE that when it comes to the former first couple, “sometimes it’s hard to know where one ends and the other begins.”

Here’s the story of how apparent soulmates first met — in a hospital 95 years ago — paving the way for Jimmy and Rosalynn to progress from childhood acquaintances to long-distance crushes to, eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Carter.

Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter Relationship Timeline

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter on election night 1976. Getty

On August 18, 1927, in the small town of Plains, Georgia, nurse Lillian Carter gave birth to a baby named Eleanor Rosalynn Smith – or Rosalynn for short. The Carters were friends with the Smiths, and having children further bonded them in a town of only 600 people.

Not long after Rosalynn was born, Miss Lillian brought her three-year-old son Jimmy to the hospital to make a new friend. (There have been conflicting reports about the exact time Jimmy was introduced to Rosalynn, though biographer Jonathan Alter previously told PEOPLE it happened three days after her birth.)

At that moment, of course, their presentation did not mean much. But in retrospect, it shows just how far the longest-married presidential couple goes — a literal lifespan.

15 touching moments from the decades-long love story of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter

The Jimmy Carter Library

Jimmy and Rosalynn weren’t fast friends, as Alter clarified, but they knew each other through their families growing up. However, Rosalynn was very good friends with Jimmy’s younger sister Ruth, who was closer to her in age and one of the few girls in town.

It wasn’t until after Jimmy went to the United States Naval Academy that Rosalynn said she piqued her interest in him after seeing a photo of him in uniform. Her curiosity was not too deep at first, because he was studying far from home.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP

But one summer, while Jimmy was visiting the Plains before returning to the Naval Academy for his final year of school, he saw Rosalynn and asked her out on a whim. They watched a movie together – nothing too special or conversational – but Jimmy went home that night feeling like he’d just spent time with the woman he was going to marry.

Jimmy Carter recalls the first date with his wife – and how he told his mom he knew he was going to marry Rosalynn

The young lovebirds began dating long distance, during which time Jimmy coined the acronym “ILYTG” — “I Love You Best” — as a way to succinctly and succinctly express his affection.

Charles Kelly/AP

Shortly after Jimmy graduated, they were married, beginning their marriage with a series of moves around the United States, going wherever the Navy took them.

In time, they returned to Georgia to develop the Carter family’s peanut business, each having a stake in the business. The couple became more politically engaged amid the racial tensions it stirred up Brown v. Board of Education, and will embark on an unexpected political journey that takes Jimmy to the Statehouse, the Governor’s Mansion and the Oval Office. With each new campaign, Rosalynn helped develop the behind-the-scenes strategy and publicly appeared in support of her husband.

After leaving the White House and returning to private life, they co-founded the Carter Center and rebranded themselves as humanitarians and activists, living modestly in the Plains between public appearances and travel.

Jimmy Carter is back teaching Sunday School after hip replacement surgery

Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn in 2018 Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty The night Jimmy Carter knew he was going to marry Rosalynn, the worst moment of their marriage and their love now

Over the past 77 years — their anniversary was Nov. 17 — the Carters have gone to the ends of the earth with each other as a military couple, humanitarians and, briefly, the world’s most visible couple.

When Jimmy battled life-threatening cancer in 2015 at the age of 90, Rosalynn helped him get through it, even knowing there was a possibility of the former president’s death. He beat the odds and came through the other side of the health scare, securing eight more years with his wife and their family.

But in February, after 98-year-old Jimmy decided to forgo further medical intervention and receive hospice care at his home in Georgia, it became clear that the Carters’ record-breaking marriage was coming to a natural end. And soon, for the first time in Rosalynn’s life, she was forced to see a world without Jimmy.

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Source: HIS Education