Jimmy Carter’s grandson reveals 99-year-old ex-president ‘no longer wakes up every day’ after 16 months of hospice care

Jimmy Carter’s eldest grandchild Jason said the 99-year-old former president is no longer awake every day.

Nearly a year and a half after reaching end-of-life in hospice care in February 2023, Carter’s loved ones remain by their patriarch’s side.

Jason Carter revealed that the latest decline began after the death of Rosalynn, the 38th president’s beloved wife, in November 2023 at the age of 96.

“After 77 years of marriage… I don’t think any of us really understand what it’s like for him now.” Jason told Southern Living during a conversation this month. “We need to embrace the fact that there are things about the mind that you just can’t understand.”

“(He) is experiencing the world as best he can as he goes through this process,” Jason, 48, added.

He said Carter isn’t awake every day, but his four children visit regularly — although they can’t predict how alert he will be from day to day.

Overall, Jason said there has been “really no change” in the health of the Democrat and oldest living former president in recent months.

Even into his early 90s, Carter’s baseline was very active. In 2020, he was often seen building houses and teaching Sunday school at his Baptist church.

The former commander-in-chief moved into a hospice 16 months ago in his home in Plains, Georgia, which he built with Rosalynn in 1961.

“(Plains) is the place that has given him the greatest support and it’s the only place where he would go through this part of his life,” said Jason, who lives in Atlanta. “That is his home in every way, and he cherished that time and that support immensely.”

The Carters turned over their property to the National Park Service – and when he dies, they plan to turn their home into a museum.

Carter was last seen publicly at his wife’s memorial events in November in a wheelchair and covered in a blanket, but has largely remained out of sight since deciding to end medical intervention.

When he dies, he will be buried next to her.

Jimmy Carter attends the funeral service of his beloved wife Rosalynn Carter in November 2023

“I think the fact that he and my grandmother were both from that small town – it’s actually a village of 600 people – and it’s not near a highway and it’s really in the countryside and it’s a is a fundamental part of who he is and who he has been his entire life,” Jason said.

“There is no other place in the world where he would have peace except Plains.”

“It’s such an American story … to go to Plains and see the house that my grandparents built and lived in all their time and came home to after they were president,” said the eldest grandson of Carter. “It’s really an incredible story to go from that town to the White House and back again.”