Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School hours after grandson's death

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 21 December 2015

During his regular Sunday School lesson at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, former President Jimmy Carter shared the tragic news that his grandson had died.

Carter arrived 25 minutes after his lesson was set to begin, the first time he had ever been tardy. Carter said his grandson, 28-year-old Jeremy Carter, had gone to lie down Saturday evening because he wasn't feeling well, and when his mother checked on him, his heart had stopped, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. He died Sunday at the hospital, the cause of death unclear.

Earlier this month, Carter shared good news with Maranatha, telling the congregation that doctors could not find any remaining signs of cancer on his brain. On Sunday, after discussing his grandson and some insights into his death, Carter taught his previously planned lesson. "I'm not surprised," parishioner Jan Williams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "That's the kind of Christian he is. Everything that happens in life, good or bad, he uses as a teaching experience. He lives his life as a lesson for other people to see."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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