Ellijay native Haley Higingbotham and another friend from Georgia waited three hours outdoors in subfreezing, wind-chilled temperatures last week to view the casket with President Jimmy Carter’s body lying in state in Washington, D.C.
“My friend and I met up after work at around 7 p.m. at Union Station and walked over to the Capitol from there, and officially got in line around 7:30,” said Higingbotham in an email. “The line was quite long, but was moving fairly swiftly at first until we got to the main part of the line directly in front of the Capitol. It was in the 20s with a windchill in the teens and so cold while we were in line. The cold from snow in the grass from the recent storm did not help either.”
After clearing a metal detector, they waited another hour to get inside the Rotunda, where Carter — the 39th president of the United States and only Chief Executive from Georgia — lay in state.
“It was a much more pleasant wait now that we were not freezing,” she described. “As we ascended to the Rotunda, there was a notable hush in the air. Everyone was absolutely silent as they paid their respect to the casket in the center of the room. It was surrounded by five uniformed servicemen. While there, we were able to watch them change the guard — which while not having the same showmanship of the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery — still had this air of gravitas that was very moving to witness.”
Higingbotham, the salutatorian of the Gilmer High School Class of 2016, graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 and moved to D.C. to attain her degree in museum studies from George Washington University in 2022. After interning at the National Institute of Health’s Office of History and Stetten Museum, she procured full-time work.
Higingbotham was asked why she attended.
“Beyond wanting to pay my respect to Carter, it was also the first event of this type for me to experience since moving to D.C.,” she replied. “I thought it would be an interesting experience. At the nation’s Capitol, there are so many unique experiences that happen and I definitely try to experience as many as possible.”
Higingbotham said she takes “great pride in the fact that Carter is from our state since he was so generous and charitable.”
“I was born well after his presidency and really all I learned about him in school was that he was the only president from Georgia and a peanut farmer,” she continued. “In college and afterward, I learned much more about his charitable work. Regardless of anyone’s opinion on his politics or his presidency itself, no one can deny how he devoted his post-presidential life to giving back to others. I greatly admire this and wish more politicians or notable people in general did things like that.
“From everything I have read, he seemed to genuinely care about people around the world and wanted to do whatever was in his power to help out. Again, this is a sentiment I wish was more prevalent in our world, and I can only hope that more people are inspired by this legacy and step up the same way Carter did.”
At heart, she has not forgotten her roots.
“I still consider myself as being from Ellijay,” she said, “which is why in the condolence book at Jimmy Carter’s lying in state, I signed my name as ‘Haley Higingbotham — Ellijay, Ga.’”