The six days of funeral observances for former US President Jimmy Carter began Saturday in Georgia. On Saturday, a tribute was paid to to him outside his family's farm as the old farm bell was rang 39 times in his honour.
His six-day state funeral started in Americus at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center. Current and former Secret Service agents who had safeguarded the former president carried his body to a black hearse and walked alongside as it left the campus, heading toward Plains, according to CBS News.
Carter passed away at the age of 100 on December 29. He served in the US for seven years before working on the family farm and running for office in Georgia, winning the governorship in 1970.
He became the US President in 1976 and served a single term in office. In his post-presidency life, he followed his passion for humanitarian work and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
A departure ceremony will be conducted and then his casket will be taken to Washington, DC, where he will be moved to a hearse with an arrival ceremony. The motorcade will stop at the US Navy Memorial and then the casket will be transferred from a hearse to a horse-drawn caisson in a ceremony.
The funeral procession will then be taken to the US Capitol, where military bearers will carry the casket to the Rotunda. Members of Congress will be able to pay their respects during a ceremony and then Carter will lie in state while the military maintains a guard of honor. Members of the public will be able to pay their respects to the former US President.
He will lie in state in the Rotunda until Thursday when there will be a state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral. His remains will then be taken back to Georgia for a private funeral service at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where Carter used to teach in Sunday school for many years, CBS News reported.
After the private funeral, there will be a motorcade through Plains to Carter's home, where he will be buried. The US Navy will hold a missing man formation flyover to honor him and then there will be a private burial. He will be laid to rest beside his wife Rosalynn.
(With all inputs from ANI, AP)
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