Written by Jonathan Allen and Brad Brooks
(Reuters) – A state funeral for Jimmy Carter, the former US president who died on Sunday at the age of 100, will be held at the Washington National Cathedral on January 9, according to the US military.
US President Joe Biden, who said last year that Carter had asked him to deliver the eulogy at his funeral, directed that January 9 be a day of national mourning for Carter throughout the United States.
The Army said in a statement that Carter's six-day state funeral begins on Saturday as his remains are transported in a procession through his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
The motorcade carrying Carter will stop at the farm where he grew up. There, the National Park Service will ring the historic plantation bell 39 times – Carter was the 39th President of the United States.
Carter's remains will then be transported to Atlanta, where they will lie in state at the Carter Presidential Center until the morning of January 7. His body will then be flown to Washington, D.C., where he will lie in state. The rotunda of the US Capitol until his national funeral service.
The family is scheduled to hold a private funeral and burial in Georgia later on January 9, following the ceremony at Washington National Cathedral.
Carter is scheduled to be buried in a plot of land next to his wife, Rosalynn Carter, on the grounds of their old home in Plains.
Carter, a Democrat, became president in January 1977 after defeating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford (NYSE:) in the 1976 election. His one-term presidency was marked by the signing of the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, which brought some stability to the Middle East.
Carter spent his long post-presidential career dedicated to humanitarian work, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize. World leaders and former US presidents paid tribute to the man they praised as compassionate, humble and committed to peace in the Middle East.
