Jimmy Carter’s bodybuilding grandson Hugo, 25, reveals what made him happiest in his final days
To the world, Jimmy Carter was known as the 39th American president, humanitarian and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, but to his grandson Hugo Wentzel, Carter was just Paw-Paw.
Carter died Sunday at the age of 100 at his home in Plains, Georgia.
In an interview with DailyMail.com, Wentzel shared new details about his final days and reflected on his inspiring life.
The 25-year-old said his grandfather eventually became unable to move or really talk, but he believes Carter’happy with what he was able to achieve, the people he was able to help in his life.’
Although he was sad about his grandfather’s passing, Wentzel said Carter ultimately accepted death.
‘He really believes he’s going to heaven, he’ll be a better place there. That really reassures me,” he said.
Wentzel is one of Carter’s 11 grandchildren and son of the late president’s daughter Amy, who ultimately served as one of the late president’s primary caregivers.
He discovered his grandfather was in his final hours during a phone call with his mother on Sunday, just before the news broke. She was in Plains to be with her father when he passed away.
An image of Hugo Wentzel with his grandfather, President Jimmy Carter, which he shared on social media following news that the 39th president had died on Sunday at the age of 100
The last time Wentzel saw his Paw-Paw was just before his 100th birthday, when he and his mother were visiting Plains together from their home in Atlanta.
During that visit, they had what he described as a very deep conversation about life’s motivations and what influenced the late president to keep going over the years.
“He’s the best person for life advice in my opinion, so it was great,” Wentzel said.
“The first thing for him is he was super religious, so that’s always his main motivation, and he’ll tell anyone who ever talks about that, it’s just his faith that drives him,” Wentzel said.
His other lesson from his last conversation with his grandfather was to never give up on changing the world.
“He never stopped working on anything. He never gave up on a project,” Wentzel said. “If he started something, he finished it, no matter what happened to him.”
Wentzel received a unique upbringing as the grandson of a former president. As a child, he spent a lot of time traveling with Carter on regular family trips. At the time he didn’t think much about it, but looking back he realized how remarkable it was.
“We used to go on family trips to the craziest places,” he remembered fondly.
Their adventures together took them to Nicaragua, Turkey (where they stayed in a hotel with “golden toilets”) and beyond.
Wentzel didn’t realize how unusual it was when he was younger that his grandfather mentioned meeting Nelson Mandela on one of their trips.
He shared a more recent image of Hugo Wentzel on his Instagram in October
The late President Jimmy Carter with his grandson Hugo and the late First Lady Rosalynn Carter
Wentzel reflected on how his grandfather, President Jimmy Carter, wanted to be remembered not only as a human rights activist, but also as a grandfather
Together, Carter and his family traveled the world, taking his grandchildren on trips frequently after he left office
The 25-year-old laughed as he reflected on how, on another trip, he became the youngest person to ever open the Panama Canal.
His comments on the canal come at a crucial time, as newly elected President Donald Trump sets his sights on regaining US control of the crucial waterway.
While Trump praised Carter in a statement after his death, he has criticized the 39th president over the treaty that handed control of the canal to Panama.
Despite hostilities over the years, Wentzel believes Trump will be invited to his grandfather’s funeral.
“I think right now, while the country is so crazy and everyone is so divided, I think his passing is just an important reminder that everyone needs to come together and love everyone no matter what’s going on all the time is,” he said.
In the run-up to the presidential election, the Carter family made no secret of the former president’s insistence on voting for Kamala Harris. Wentzel said he was “very happy that he got to do that” and “talked about that a lot.”
An image Wentzel shared in a post of his grandfather holding him after it was announced that President Carter had died. Wentzel captioned the post that his Paw-Paw was the “most selfless person I have ever met in my entire life, and I’m not even kidding when I say probably one of the most selfless people in history.”
Planning is still underway, but Wentzel believes there will be a small funeral for the family and close-knit people who live in the Carter’s Plains community before the larger public celebrations of his life. His state funeral is scheduled for January 9 in Washington, DC.
“I think he would be thrilled to see how many people from all walks of life really love and care about him,” Wentzel said. He said this includes Trump, Biden and other members of both parties all together.
For Wentzel, he tries to share the memory of his grandfather the way Carter himself said he wanted to be remembered: as a human rights activist and someone who cared about everyone equally, but also as a grandfather.
“A lot of people know him as president, but I think there’s something very important to him, and what he wanted as part of his legacy was that he was someone who cared a lot about people who were close to him, non-stop, no matter how whatsoever. what happened.’
Wentzel hopes to carry on some of his grandfather’s values and also make a positive impact
Wentzel said he hopes to carry on some of his grandfather’s values and also make a positive impact.
For now, the 25-year-old, who is an avid bodybuilder and often posts about fitness, is launching a fitness clothing line ‘All You’, part of the proceeds of which will be donated to help disabled children get fit.
But he also laughingly suggested that there might be another Carter family member in politics one day.