Americans bid farewell to US President Jimmy Carter

Those who knew the former president well, such as Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of the Carter family, said he and his wife, Rosalie, will be missed for their commitment to helping others.

Ms Stuckey said the couple were committed “until the day they die”.

“I don’t know how we’re going to get used to a world without President Carter,” he told the BBC.

On Saturday, the procession passed the Methodist church where the Carters were married in 1946 and the house where they lived and died.

The former president will be buried there with Rosaline, who died at the age of 96 at the end of 2023.

The march also stopped in front of Carter’s childhood home and family farm near Plains. The site is now part of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, which rings the old farm bell 39 times on Saturday in honor of the 39th president.

The procession then stopped at the Georgia state capitol building for a moment of silence led by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

Mourners will be able to visit Carter at the presidential library on January 5 and 6 before flying to Washington on January 7.

He will lie in state for two days in the US Capitol Rotunda where the public can pay their respects.

His life will be commemorated on January 9 at the Washington National Cathedral in a ceremony attended by several former presidents.