On November 28, 2023, Jimmy Carter was wheeled into Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church in Atlanta to say goodbye to his wife. He was 99 years old and had been in home hospice care for ten months. He had not been seen in public since September.
He sat near the front, reclining in his wheelchair, a blanket with a drawing of Rosalynn tucked over him. His son Chip and his daughter Amy held his hands. Every living first lady was in the church that day.
Near the end of the service, two country music stars stood up. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood sang John Lennon’s “Imagine” for Rosalynn Carter, as her husband of 77 years looked on.
Just over a year later, they would sing it again, at Jimmy Carter’s own request.
A Friendship Built with Hammers
Garth and Trisha did not know the Carters from the stage. They knew them from job sites.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter began working with Habitat for Humanity in 1984, a few years after leaving the White House. Every year, they gave a full week to building homes alongside thousands of volunteers, an event that became known as the Carter Work Project.
Garth and Trisha joined their first build together in 2007 in New Orleans, putting up homes for families who had lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. They kept coming back. They built in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. In 2016, Habitat for Humanity named them Habitat Humanitarians, the same honor the Carters held. One year, when nail guns were allowed on site, Trisha earned the nickname “Nail Gun Diva.”
Jimmy Carter teased them like family. He once called Trisha, who grew up in Georgia, his second-favorite Georgia peach. There was never any doubt about who was first.
Fourteen Stitches and a Black Eye
One night in October 2019 says a lot about the man they were working beside.
Carter had just turned 95. That Sunday, he fell at his home in Plains, Georgia, and needed 14 stitches above his eyebrow. That same evening, he walked onto the stage of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to rally volunteers for that year’s build, his left eye swollen and bruised under an Atlanta Braves cap.
“I had a No. 1 priority and that was to come to Nashville and build houses.” — Jimmy Carter
Garth and Trisha introduced the Carters that night and called them the hardest-working volunteers there were. Rosalynn returned the compliment. She said she had once seen Trisha way up in the rafters of a house, working hard. Jimmy added that Garth just watched her, and the whole Ryman laughed, Trisha included.
In time, Garth and Trisha became the faces of the project. They hosted the Carter Work Project in Charlotte in 2023, and in 2024 they hosted the 40th anniversary build in St. Paul, Minnesota, where volunteers put up 30 homes. They celebrated the president’s 100th birthday at that build.
Why “Imagine”
The song choice surprised some people. But Jimmy Carter had talked about “Imagine” for years.
In a 2006 NPR interview, he explained that he and Rosalynn had visited about 125 countries, and in many of them, Lennon’s song was heard almost as often as national anthems. A year later, asked to name his favorite Beatles song, he picked it right away, even though it came from Lennon’s solo career. When Georgia Tech students surprised the Carters by singing it in 2017, the former president rose to his feet and led the applause.
Rosalynn had a hand in nearly every detail of her own memorial service, including the music. The song and the singers came from the people who knew her best.
One More Time
Jimmy Carter died at home in Plains on December 29, 2024. He was 100, the longest-lived president in American history.
Before the funeral, Garth and Trisha were invited to the Capitol rotunda to pay their respects. Trisha laid her hand on the president’s casket. Garth later said watching her do it was one of the most powerful moments he had ever witnessed.
On January 9, 2025, a national day of mourning, the state funeral was held at Washington National Cathedral. Toward the end of the service, Garth walked out with an acoustic guitar, without his usual cowboy hat. Trisha stood beside him. He appeared to fight back tears before the first notes.
At President Carter’s request, they sang “Imagine.” Garth took most of the verses, and Trisha’s harmony came in on the chorus. When the song ended, Garth leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek.
“I am not sure there can be a greater honor.” — Garth Brooks
Afterward, Jimmy Carter was flown home to Georgia and laid to rest in Plains, beside Rosalynn.
In his tribute, Garth thanked the president for a lifetime of service and wrote that the Carters inspired people not just by what they said, but by what they built. For Garth and Trisha, that was more than a figure of speech. They had built it right alongside them, one house at a time.