In the small town of Plains, Georgia, in 1927, a remarkable love story began to unfold. A three-year-old boy named Jimmy Carter lived next door to an auto mechanic, Francis Smith, and his pregnant wife, Allie. That August, when Allie went into labor, Jimmy’s mother, a nurse, helped deliver her daughter. The next day, little Jimmy went next door and peered into the crib, catching his first glimpse of the baby girl who would one day become his wife – Rosalynn.

As the years passed, “Rosie” grew up with a fierce crush on Jimmy, who was three years her senior. But Jimmy, caught up in his own life, took little notice of the shy girl next door. That is, until the summer of 1945, when Jimmy returned to Plains on vacation from the Naval Academy. While riding in the rumble seat of a friend’s Ford, he looked toward the United Methodist church and saw Rosie, now seventeen and all grown up, standing out front. He was instantly captivated.

Jimmy hopped out of the rumble seat and asked Rosie to the movies. She jumped right in, and from that moment on, their lives became intertwined. That night, Jimmy came home and told his mother that the baby she had delivered seventeen years earlier was the girl he was going to marry.

This week, Jimmy and Rosalynn will celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary, making theirs the longest marriage in presidential history. They have known each other for almost one hundred years, a testament to the power of a love that has stood the test of time.

Their story is one of enduring devotion, a testament to the idea that sometimes the best relationships are those that have been nurtured over a lifetime. As they enter their eighth decade as husband and wife, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s love story remains a shining example of the power of commitment, patience, and the ability to see the beauty in someone, even when others cannot.