By Jonathan Allen and Brad Brooks
(Reuters) – A state funeral for Jimmy Carter, the former US president who died on Sunday at the age of 100, will be held at Washington National Cathedral on January 9, according to the US military.
US President Joe Biden, who last year said Carter had asked him to deliver the eulogy at his funeral, has ordered January 9 to be a national day of mourning for Carter across the United States.
The six-day official state funeral for Carter begins Saturday as his remains travel by motorcade through his hometown of Plains, Georgia, the Army said in a statement.
The caravan carrying Carter will stop at the farm where he grew up. There, the National Park Service will ring the historic farm bell 39 times: Carter was the 39th president of the United States.
Carter’s (NYSE:) remains will then be transported to Atlanta, where he will lie in repose at the Carter Presidential Center until the morning of January 7. His body will then be flown to Washington, DC, where he will lie in state in the rotunda of the United States Capitol until his national burial ceremony.
The family will hold a private funeral and burial in Georgia later on January 9, following the ceremony at Washington National Cathedral.
Carter will be buried in a plot next to his wife, Rosalynn Carter, on the grounds of their former home in Plains.
Carter, a Democrat, became president in January 1977 after defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford (NYSE:) in the 1976 election. His one-term presidency was marked by the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, which brought some stability to the Middle East.
Carter dedicated his long post-presidential career to humanitarian work, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize. World leaders and former US presidents have paid tribute to a man they praised as compassionate, humble and committed to peace in the Middle East.