Jimmy Carter's daughter reads touching letter he wrote to Rosalynn 75 years ago at her memorial

The Carter family is honoring Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's epic love story following her death on November 19. The former First Lady of the United States had been married to Jimmy for 77 years and is survived by their four children Jack, Chip, Jeff and Amy and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The 96-year-old died at her Plains, Georgia, home two days after entering hospice care. The couple got married on July 7, 1946, at a Methodist church in Plains, Georgia, and hold the title of the longest-married Presidential couple. Their love story is one for the ages.

“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished. She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me,” Jimmy said in a statement, per PEOPLE. The 99-year-old former president who has his own health challenges and had been in hospice care was spotted at the service for his late wife along with the rest of his family in a rare sighting. 

At the memorial service, their daughter Amy read out a moving love letter written by Jimmy to his late wife 75 years ago. “I chose something that is hard to read without crying,” Amy said during the service, according to TODAY. “My mom spent most of her life in love with my dad. Their partnership and love story was a defining feature of her life. Because he isn’t able to speak to you today, I am going to share some of his words about loving and missing her.”

The letter touched upon their sweet connection across decades and read, “My darling, every time I have ever been away from you, I have been thrilled when I returned to discover just how wonderful you are. While I am away, I try to convince myself that you really are not, could not be as sweet and beautiful as I remember. But when I see you, I fall in love with you all over again. Does that seem strange to you? It doesn’t to me. Goodbye, darling. Until tomorrow. Jimmy.”

The beautiful love note is just one of many that Jimmy sent his love over the years. In fact, he even came up with a special acronym "ILYTG" while sending sweet love notes to Rosalynn starting in the 40s when he was a smitten young Naval officer... a tradition that lasted years. "'I love you the goodest', That's what my mother and daddy used to say back and forth, and I picked it up with Rosa," the country's 39th president told PEOPLE in a joint interview with Rosalynn in 2014.

A couple of months ago, Jimmy Carter celebrated his 99th birthday and his grandson son Jason Carter admitted on GMA3 that "we didn't know, and we didn't believe at the time, that we were going to get to this 99th birthday." "They are coming to the end, of course, at this time in their lives. But they are at peace, they are together, they're at home, they're in love. And you don't get much more than that, and they don't expect more," Jason said at the time. "It's a true blessing for all of us to have had this much time with him."