Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary with a star-studded party over the weekend, and the couple received an extra-special gift from two of their guests, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. PEOPLE reports that the country music stars met with the Carters privately before the party to present them with a red convertible built in 1946, the year the couple married.
The Carters’ close friend Jill Stuckey shared that the car arrived to the couple’s home in Plains, Georgia, last Wednesday and was taken by Secret Service and stored on an area of the compound where the Carters wouldn’t see it. When the gift was unveiled, Stuckey shared that the couple was “very excited.” “Bright eyes and big smiles and … very excited time, but there was so much special [about the day] because the people that were here from all aspects of their lives,” she said.
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Stuckey helped organize the event, which was the former POTUS’ idea. “President Carter called me to the house one evening and said, ‘I want to have a party.’ So, that’s the first I heard about it,” she recalled, adding that President and Mrs. Carter were “involved in every single detail” of the event. “He still, at 96, managing every little aspect of this special get together,” she said.
The 300-person guest list included celebrities, friends from the Carter’s time in the White House, staff members of the Carter Center, representatives from Habitat for Humanity and other politicians, including Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. “There were people from their church. Nancy Pelosi was here, and the Clintons were here and Ted Turner — who they’ve gone fishing with forever and are close personal friends with,” Stuckey says, adding: “All aspects of their life were covered, so it was just a memory lane.”
The party was held in the auditorium of Plains High School and guests dined on hors d’oeuvres, petit fours inscribed with “75” and a celebratory cake. Entertainment was provided by pianist David Oscborne, and the Carters’ son Chip gave a toast to his parents. Both of the Carters also spoke at the party, with Rosalynn sharing that her life “has been an adventure” since she first met her husband. “It’s wonderful to celebrate with so many friends,” she said. “It’s just so good to have you all here and I thank you for making it a good evening, a good time for us to be here and to be with friends we care about very much.” Former President Carter toasted his wife, saying, “To my wife Rosalynn, I want to express a particular gratitude for being the right woman that I chose for my wife.”
