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Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter celebrate 73 years of marriage

July 7, 2019 GMT

FILE - In this June 9, 2019 file photo, former President Jimmy Carter smiles as he returns to Maranatha Baptist Church to teach Sunday School less than a month after falling and breaking his hip, in Plains Ga. Carter's foundation The Carter Center will be auctioning off rare items, extravagant vacations and more at the June 29 annual charity event in Leesburg, Va. Proceeds from the auction will go toward the Center's efforts to advance global peace and health care. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)

ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, are marking their 73rd wedding anniversary, approaching George and Barbara Bush as the longest-married presidential couple in U.S. history.

The Carters married July 7, 1946, in a Methodist church in their hometown of Plains, Georgia, when he was 21 and she was 18.

The Bushes wed Jan. 6, 1945. They had been married 73 years and 111 days when Barbara Bush died in April 2018.

WAGA-TV reports that on Valentine’s Day this year, the Carters were caught on the “Kiss Cam” at the Atlanta Hawks game. The Carters have three sons, one daughter, eight grandsons, three granddaughters and two great-grandsons.

Carter, a Democrat, was president 1977-81. He is 94.

George H.W. Bush, a Republican, was president 1989-93. He was 94.