Jimmy Carter's doctor is sharing the ex-president's final moments after his death at age 100 - as former presidents and members of the public prepare to pay their respects.
There will be several days of mourning in Georgia and Washington D.C., which will allow members of the public to pay their respects before Carter is finally laid to rest on January 9th.
Carter drew his last breaths at his home in Plains, Georgia after nearly two years in hospice care.
His death on December 29 came "peacefully," Dr. Michael Raines said, with his family at his bedside.
“For the last couple of weeks he had been very fatigued and tired,” he said. “He didn’t have any episodes of that we had to treat. He died very peacefully and I’m glad that his family was at his bedside when he did go.”
Carter served only four years as president, but he lived longer than any president in the nation's history. He was predeceased by his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who died last November. Her funeral was one of Carter's last public appearances.
“It was just mostly being 100 years old and finally he just reached the end and he was very peaceful going,” Raines said of Carter's passing.
The funeral services will run from January 4 to January 9 and will include motorcades, public visitations in Atlanta and Washington D.C and a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral.
"The Carter Family invites the public to honor and celebrate the life of former President Carter by paying their respects during either of the public viewings; the funeral procession in Washington; in the downtown area of Plains, Georgia; or along the motorcade routes in Georgia and Washington,” the Carter Center's website states.
Carter's motorcade will stop in front of his boyhood farm and the Georgia State Capitol before he is brought to the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta for a service and public viewing.
President Carter will then be transported to Washington D.C. to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, before a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral attended by ex-presidents, including President-elect Donald Trump.
President Biden, who is now the oldest living president, is expected to give a eulogy. Carter will then be flown back home on a military plane to Georgia, where he will be buried alongside his wife Rosalynn.
