Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, media mogul Ted Turner and more were also on hand for the celebration, along with members of the Carters’ local church, Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center and others who’ve had an impact on their lives. The couple’s son, Chip, toasted them, and they each spoke in turn, paying tribute to each other for their long and happy marriage.
Brooks shared a humorous story about the former president in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres in 2019, telling her about a Habitat for Humanity build they’d been on together in Haiti.
“We’re in Haiti working on the roof [of a house] all day long, and they’re metal roofs and it’s 115 degrees,” he recalled. “When you get a roof on, the great thing is that now the house has a roof — you can go down and stand underneath it and get two seconds of shade.
“My two seconds of shade the president walked in and I’m sitting there and he goes, ‘Do you need something to do, Garth?'” he recounted with a laugh.
“I said, ‘No sir!’ and I jumped right back out there,” Brooks said. “You’re not going to outwork him or Miss Rosalynn, they just keep going.”