Where Is Rosalynn Carter’s Engagement Ring Now?

Jimmy Carter’s marriage to Rosalynn Carter spanned over 70 years; they wed in 1946 and shared an incredible life (that included four years in the White House) until Rosalynn’s death on November 19, 2023, making them the longest-married presidential couple in American history. Jimmy passed away peacefully just over a year later, on December 29, 2024, at his home in Plains, Georgia (which is also where he and his wife tied the knot!), reports People. Now, on the eve of his funeral, we’re taking a look back at the couple’s seven-decade-long love story—and tracing the whereabouts of Rosalynn’s engagement ring, a piece that signified their bond and one she wore religiously over the course of her life.

The couple first crossed paths earlier than most; Jimmy’s mother, a nurse, actually delivered Rosalynn in 1927 and—according to biographer Jonathan Alter—even brought her son, who was three at the time, to meet her shortly after the birth. That was the extent of their interactions until 1945, when Jimmy, who was on a break from the Naval Academy, asked Rosalynn, who had become his sister Ruth’s best friend, on a date to the movies. Jimmy reflected on that first date in the book What Makes a Marriage Last, by Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas: “She was beautiful and innocent, and there was a resonance. We rode in the rumble seat of a Ford pickup—Ruth and her boyfriend in the front—and I kissed her on that first date. I remember that vividly,” he explained. Later that night, he told his mother that he’d found the girl he was going to marry, he later revealed in his book Always a Reckoning. 

Less than a year later, while they both still in school, Jimmy asked Rosalynn to marry him—a request she promptly refused, explaining that they both needed to focus on their education. He tried again in May 1946, and this time, she said yes. It’s unclear whether or not the future president proposed with a ring in his hand—but he did give his bride-to-be a compact engraved with the acronym “ILYTG,” which summarized the signature Carter family phrase, “I love you the goodest.” “Now all our children do the same thing—ILYTG on the phone or in emails,” Jimmy said, per People. “They generally just put the initials. And sometimes they change the initials and make you guess what they’re talking about.”

Two months later—and just weeks after Jimmy graduated from the Naval Academy—the pair was married on July 17, 1946, at a church in their hometown of Plains, Georgia; the newlyweds promptly moved to Virginia when the groom received his first naval assignment. It’s more than likely that Rosalynn began wearing the chunky, signet-style gold band, studded with modest pavé diamonds on the face, at this time; she would wear the bauble for the majority of their marriage, through the birth of their four children (whom they welcomed between the years of 1947 to 1967), Jimmy’s election to governor in 1970, his successful presidential campaign and time in the White House, which began in 1976, and post-political life, which was largely focused on philanthropy.

As for what happened to the ring in the wake of Rosalynn’s passing at the age of 96? We can’t know for sure—but she was either buried with the bauble (which would have been a fitting choice, considering she rarely took it off) or passed it along to her husband as something to remember her by (another probable option, given their happy marriage). Now that Jimmy has died, it’s more than likely that Rosalynn’s engagement ring—and the entirety of the couple’s estate, which is estimated to be modest, per The Independent—will pass on to their four children. It’s possible that their only daughter, Amy (who is in her 50s), will be the lucky inheritor of her mother’s beloved ring; her sons Errol Carter Kelly and Hugo James Wentzel (who has a serious girlfriend!) could potentially propose with piece when the time comes.