Mourners defy subfreezing temperatures to honor Jimmy Carter at the capitol
WASHINGTON — They came amid the ice and snow, bundled in parkas and long johns, expecting an hourslong wait in the subfreezing temperatures and whipping winds.
Instead, the mourners who journeyed through the maze of barricades around the Capitol early Wednesday morning to pay their final respects to President Jimmy Carter were shocked to find such a short queue, waiting just 10 to 20 minutes at most to honor the 39th president, who died at 100 last month. (The lines grew longer as the day progressed.)
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Parents pushed strollers. Children and adults alike lumbered into the Capitol dressed in insulated snow pants and clunky winter boots. The Rotunda saw fewer celebrities by late afternoon Wednesday than it had for previous presidents, although country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood came.
President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, both wearing black coats, stopped by Wednesday evening to pay their respects.
But it was the slow and steady stream of regular people — as well as several members of Congress, staff, military leaders and dignitaries — that seemed the most fitting tableau for the lying-in-state of the humble peanut farmer from Georgia, who prided himself on living more than 60 years in a four-bedroom home valued at just over $250,000.
First in line to bid farewell to Carter was Chris Forward, a Virginia educator who showed up Tuesday afternoon, just before Vice President Kamala Harris and congressional leaders gathered to eulogize Carter in a closed-door ceremony in the Rotunda.
“I was sort of surprised,” said Forward, who became fast friends with three other women who joined the line shortly after she did. “I thought it’d be a long wait because he was such a great man.”
Peter and Uta Schreiner, a couple from Germany, were also near the front of the line. During a trip to the United States to celebrate Peter Schreiner’s 50th birthday, they had been attending a Washington Commanders football game on Dec. 29 when they learned that Carter had died. Then winter weather delayed their flight back home until Thursday, and the couple decided to head to the Capitol to pay their respects.
“It’s a special moment. It’s hard to describe — it’s incredible to be a part of all this,” Schreiner said. “He was a special man, and it’s an honor to be here right now to give him the last honor.”
As well-wishers slowly processed around the coffin, some wiping tears and others somberly bowing their heads, a near silence gripped the cavernous and echoey hall under the Capitol dome, which is usually awash with noise from tourists and frenzied staffers. Only the shutters of cameras, yelps from agitated children and the occasional cough or stray cellphone alert broke the hush.
