PLAINS, Ga. — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter celebrated 75 years of marriage Saturday with an anniversary celebration in their hometown of Plains, GA.
The couple reached 75 years of marriage earlier this week, on July 7, and hosted a private reception on Saturday at Plains High School for roughly 300 invited guests.
According to the Carter Center, the private party included a concert by pianist David Osborne.
11Alive's Christie Diez was among those in Plains to provide observations from the gathering for this momentous milestone. Follow her for updates!
The Carters set the record for longest-married presidential couple at 26,765 days. With 75 years now in the books, they've extended that record to 27,394 days.
President Carter was 21 and Rosalynn was 18 when they were wed on July 7, 1946, in Plains, Georgia.
Rosalynn famously rejected his first proposal – she’d promised her father on his deathbed she wouldn’t marry until she finished college. She graduated from Georgia Southwestern College (now Georgia Southwestern State) in 1946.
After Jimmy proposed for a second time, Rosalynn accepted and the two were married on a warm Southern summer day, July 7, 1946.
The couple have four children and 21 grandchildren. Their secret, they've shared in the past, is that "we give each other plenty of space."
They also never go to bed angry, a rule "we follow pretty meticulously" Jimmy Carter has said.