Jimmy Carter Became the Longest-Living U.S. President 5 Years Ago Today — Here's How His Life Looked Then

Jimmy Carter reached a historic milestone five years ago today, when he became the oldest-living president in United States history at the age of 94 years and 172 days. Still living in his rural Georgia home a half-decade later, he's giving future White House retirees an increasingly tough act to follow.

On March 22, 2019, Carter earned the title of longest-lived U.S. president, which was previously held by George H.W. Bush. Before Bush, it was Gerald Ford's; before Ford, it was Ronald Reagan's; before Reagan, it belonged to the nation's second-ever commander-in-chief, John Adams, who died at the age of 90 two centuries ago.

Americans have long been fascinated by President Carter and wife Rosalynn Carter's lengthy post-White House lives.

After leaving office in 1981, they returned to their humble Plains, Georgia, home, started a humanitarian organization, partnered with Habitat for Humanity and stayed involved with their local Baptist church, where the former president taught Sunday school.

Though Carter had physically slowed by the time he set a new age record in 2019, he remained one of the most active ex-presidents, who continued his mission-driven work in the midst of cancer treatment, fall injuries and hip surgery.

“Both President and Mrs. Carter are both determined to use their influence for as long as they can to make the world a better place, and millions of the world’s poorest people are grateful for their resolve and heart,” Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo told CNN at the time, specifically referencing their international endeavors to alleviate human suffering.

As for his secret to a long life, Congileo explained, “He and Mrs. Carter take walks, and they have followed a healthy diet for a lifetime."

Five years ago, few could have predicted just how long the Carters would keep up their work.

It wasn't until February 2023, after a series of hospital visits, that the former president chose to begin receiving hospice care at age 98 and "spend his remaining time at home with his family." Three months later, the former first lady was diagnosed with dementia, and their grandson Josh Carter soon told PEOPLE that both were embracing their "final chapter."

"My grandfather right now is really physically limited — he's coming to the end, as is obvious by the fact that he's been in hospice — and so in that way I think he's frustrated," their grandson Jason Carter, who now chairs the Carter Center, told PEOPLE last year. But the former president continued to find joy in televised baseball games, grandchildren's juggling shows and quality time with Rosalynn at the home they built.

In July, the Carters beat their own record as the longest-married first couple when they celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary. And in November, two days after entering hospice care herself, Rosalynn died peacefully at their home surrounded by family. She was 96 — the second-oldest first lady in history after Harry S. Truman's wife, Bess.

President Carter made rare public appearances to attend his wife's memorial services, the last of which was held in the Plains church they attended for decades.

The Carters' decisions to enroll in hospice care — and be public about it — may have been their final act of service to a world they dedicated their lives to helping. Though the former president is now scarcely seen, his mere longevity more than a year after beginning hospice has sparked important conversations about the benefits of end-of-life care.

"I see more media coverage, I see more public interest, I hear more people talking about what hospice can do for you just because a public figure made that choice," Dr. Joe Rotella, chief medical officer at the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, told PEOPLE in February.

"It's particularly powerful," he adds, because "that choice was made, and a few days later, they were still living to their fullest as far as we can tell. No, [hospice] isn't just for the last days of life. It can be a much richer experience than that."

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Today, Carter is 99 years and 173 days old. Tomorrow it'll be 99 years and 174 days. The Georgia peanut farmer turned U.S. president has defied the odds plenty of times before, and as he inches toward the century milestone, he has once again proved that his legacy won't easily be replaced.