ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp is assigning Georgia National Guard troops and other state resources to help with the “logistical challenges” associated with ceremonies and services to honor the late former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
Kemp issued an executive order Tuesday activating the State Operations Center to coordinate the state assets that will assist next week in the final farewells and interment of Mrs. Carter, who died Sunday at her home in Plains. The order also calls on the Georgia Department of Defense to provide up to 50 National Guard troops.
Ceremonies celebrating the life of the former first lady of both Georgia and the United States will begin next Monday morning with a motorcade from Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus to the Rosalynn Carter Health and Human Services Complex at Georgia Southwestern State University, where wreaths will be laid.
The motorcade then will travel to The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, where members of the public will be able to pay their respects from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. as Mrs. Carter lies in repose.
On Tuesday, the motorcade will travel to Glenn Memorial Church at Emory University for a tribute service with invited guests at 1 p.m.
On Wednesday, the funeral procession will arrive at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains for an 11 a.m. service for family and invited friends. The casket then will depart for a private interment at the Carter family residence.
Under a second executive order Kemp issued Tuesday, the U.S. and Georgia flags will be flown at half-staff at all state buildings and grounds from Monday through sunset on Wednesday.