PLAINS, Ga. — Some of Jimmy Carter’s oldest friends in his hometown of Plains are sharing stories today. The former president started receiving hospice care over the weekend.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Berndt Petersen talked to a couple of ladies who can’t say enough about a true gentleman.

Some of the folks who live at the Sumter County Retirement Village have known Carter almost their entire lives, and they love bragging about him.

Over the course of her 98 years, Louise Martin has collected a cherished keepsake or two. One is a treasured photo of Carter, Rosalynn and Martin.

“Oh, I love the picture! They came to see me and someone in my family took that picture,” Martin said.

Martin and her old friends around the retirement home say the respect for the couple runs very deep.

“He fought for everybody’s human rights. And he’s still doing it,” Brenda Ragan said.

Ragan first met Carter in the drug store in downtown Plains. He stopped to chat like they’d known each other for years. For Martin it has been years, actually knowing him for decades in fact. She and the president are the same age. She says she knows wonderful people when she meets them.

“There’s just not anything I can say to be enough about Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. The most important thing is there is no one who ever lived to be a better man, Christian, and a fella,” Martin said.

Those are probably the finest compliments a fella can get.

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