Indian village that changed its name to honor Jimmy Carter pays tribute

Thousands of miles from Washington, where the funeral of Jimmy Carter is set for next week, an Indian village named after the former U.S. president fondly remembers his visit almost 50 years ago, paying tribute.

A one-term president from 1977, Carter, who died on Sunday at age 100, is to be given a state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday.

Carterpuri, or the “Village of Carter,” is a dusty hamlet about 20 miles outside Delhi. It was called Daulatpur Nasirabad when Carter’s mother, Lillian, briefly lived and worked there as a nurse and volunteer in the 1960s.

“Villagers dressed his wife in traditional attire … He (Carter) also tried out a hookah,” one resident, Moti Ram, recalled of the time Carter, accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn, walked through the village.

Preparations were made months in advance of the visit on Jan. 3, 1978, some villagers told news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake. The village was spruced up, and welcome programs were held in its main square.

So taken were the residents by the Carters’ visit that they changed the name of their village in his honor.