Voice of America’s Kane Farabaugh, of Ottawa, reports on Rosalynn Carter’s tribute

Many Americans know former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter volunteered to build houses for Habitat for Humanity. That story is well told.

Those efforts, however, are just the beginning of the Carters’ charitable efforts.

“That’s just one week out of the year,” said Kane Farabaugh, of Ottawa, who is a reporter for Voice of America, a news network funded by Congress and distributed mostly to international audiences. “The rest of the 51 weeks, they were promoting mental health awareness, working to eradicate the spread of tropical diseases, overseeing democratic elections (in developing nations).”

Farabaugh knows the Carters story as well as anyone, because he’s told it several times.

He has interviewed Carter for one-on-one interviews more than 20 times and has reported more than 100 different stories about the 39th president and the work of the Carter Center, the couple’s charitable international organization. Farabaugh said the spokesperson at the Carter Center has indicated no other journalist has interviewed or covered the president or first lady as much as Farabaugh. He knows the Carter Center’s work well enough to where he moderated a number of forums involving the charity.

As the stories piled up, he grew to know the Carters personally, and he and his family have gone fishing with the Carters at their pond.

Farabaugh will be in attendance Tuesday and Wednesday in Georgia for Rosalynn Carter’s memorial and funeral services. The first lady died at the age of 96 on Sunday at her home in Plains, Georgia. She and the president were married for 77 years.

Just as he’s chronicled many chapters of the Carters’ post-presidential life, Farabaugh will be reporting this chapter for Voice of America.

[ Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, Mental Health Advocate, Dies at 96 by Kane Farabaugh ]

Farabaugh flew into Atlanta on Monday. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill, former presidents and first ladies, Georgia politicians and country performers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are among those expected to be in attendance for Tuesday’s tribute and motorcade at Emory University. Wednesday’s services will be more private, Farabaugh said.

Rosalynn will be remembered for being a champion of mental health advocacy, Farabaugh said. She worked to eliminate the stigma of mental illnesses and advocated for the caretakers of those with mental illnesses.

“When she was on the campaign trail with the president in 1976, she would hear questions about what is (the president) going to do about mental illness?” Farabaugh said.

In her final days, the first lady received the kind of care at hospice she has advocated for so strongly, Farabaugh said.

Historians also are readdressing the impact Rosalynn has made in shaping the role of the first lady. Not only was she active in advocating for mental health, she would sit in during the president’s cabinet meetings and take a hands-on approach.

Beyond their time at the White House, Jimmy and Rosalynn lived to help others, Farabaugh said. The Carter Center treated people with river blindness and other tropical diseases, and is on the verge of eradication of Guinea worm.

“There is a Methodist creed: Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as ever you can, and even though the president was Baptist, this is how he and the first lady lived,” Farabaugh said. “It was in their DNA.”

At a time of political polarization, the Carters kindness went beyond party allegiances.

“Politics never got in the way of their mission to do good,” Farabaugh said. “ ... They set an example for everyone to follow. (Rosalynn) lived her life for the service of others.”

Farabaugh remembers one personal interaction with Rosalynn in particular.

He was on assignment fly fishing in Georgia with the Carters and he had never been fly fishing before. He didn’t know how to cast and he wasn’t picking up the skill.

“She stayed patient with me and tried to show me the technique, she wanted me to get it,” Farabaugh said. “That was her. She’d do everything she could to help people, even if it was helping a clumsy reporter.”