To the world, Jimmy Carter was known as the 39th president of the United States, a humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize winner, but to his grandson Hugo Wentzel, Carter was simply Paw-Paw.
Carter died Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 100.
In an interview with DailyMail.com, Wentzel shared new details about his final days and reflected on his inspiring life.
The 25-year-old said his grandfather couldn’t move or speak at the end, but he believes Carter was “happy with what he managed to achieve, the people he could help in his life.’
Although he was saddened by his grandfather’s passing, Wentzel said Carter eventually accepted the death.
“He really believes that he will go to heaven, that it will be a better place.” That also comforts me a lot,” he said.
Wentzel is one of Carter’s 11 grandchildren and the son of the late president’s daughter, Amy, who ultimately served as one of the late president’s primary caregivers.
He found out that his grandfather was in his final hours of life in a call with his mother on Sunday, just before the news broke. She was in Plains to be with her father when he passed away.
An image of Hugo Wentzel with his grandfather, President Jimmy Carter, which he shared on social media following the news that the 39th president had died at the age of 100 on Sunday.
The last time Wentzel saw his Paw-Paw was just before his 100th birthday, when he and his mother were visiting Plains together from their home in Atlanta.
During that visit, they had what he described as a very deep talk about life’s motivations and what influenced the late president over the years to move forward.
“I think he’s the best person to give life advice to, so it was awesome,” Wentzel said.
“The first thing for him is that he was super religious, so that’s always his main drive, and he’ll tell anyone who talks about it, that it’s just his faith that drives him,” Wentzel said.
Another conclusion he learned from his last conversation with his grandfather was to never give up on changing the world.
“He never stopped working on anything. He never gave up on a project,” Wentzel said. “If he started doing something, he finished it, no matter what happened to him.”
Wentzel had a unique upbringing as the grandson of a former president. As a child, I spent a lot of time traveling with Carter on regular family trips. At the time, he didn’t think much of it, but looking back, he realized how extraordinary it was.
“We always went on our family trips to the craziest places,” he recalled fondly.
Their adventures together took them to Nicaragua, Türkiye (where they stayed in a hotel with ‘golden bathrooms’) and beyond.
Wentzel didn’t realize how unusual it was, when he was younger, when on one of his trips his grandfather told him that they had met Nelson Mandela.
A more recent image of Hugo Wentzel that he shared on his Instagram in October.
The late President Jimmy Carter with his grandson Hugo and the late First Lady Rosalynn Carter
Wentzel reflected on how his grandfather, President Jimmy Carter, wanted to be remembered not only as a human rights activist but also as a grandfather.
Together, Carter and his family traveled the world and took his grandchildren on regular trips after he left office.
The 25-year-old laughed as he reflected that during another trip he became the youngest person to open the Panama Canal.
His comment about the canal comes at a crucial time when President-elect Donald Trump has set his sights on the United States regaining control of the crucial waterway.
While Trump praised Carter in a statement after his death, he criticized the 39th president for the treaty that handed control of the canal to Panama.
Despite hostilities over the years, Wentzel believes Trump will be invited to his grandfather’s funeral.
“I think right now, while the country is going so crazy and everyone is so divided, I think his passing is just an important reminder that everyone needs to come together and love each other no matter what’s going on all the time,” he said. .
Before the presidential election, the Carter family made no secret that the former president was reluctant to vote for Kamala Harris. Wentzel said he was “very happy to be able to do that” and “talked about it a lot.”
An image Wentzel shared in a post of his grandfather hugging him after it was announced that President Carter had passed away. Wentzel wrote in the post that his Paw-Paw was “the most selfless person I have ever met in my entire life, and I’m not even kidding when I say probably one of the most selfless humans ever.”
Planning is still underway, but Wentzel believes there will be a small funeral for the family and close-knit people who live in the Carter’s Plains community before the largest public celebrations of his life. His state funeral is scheduled for January 9 in Washington, DC.
“I think he would love to see how many people really love him and care about him in all walks of life,” Wentzel said. He said that includes Trump, Biden and other members of both parties, all together.
For Wentzel, he is trying to share his grandfather’s memory as Carter himself had said he wanted to be remembered: as a human rights activist and someone who cared about everyone equally, but also as a grandfather.
“A lot of people know him as president, but I think there’s something really important to him, and what I wanted as part of his legacy was for him to be someone who cared deeply about the people close to him, non-stop, no matter what.” what was happening.’
Wentzel hopes to carry on some of his grandfather’s values and also make a positive impact.
Wentzel said he hopes to carry on some of his grandfather’s values and also have a positive impact.
For now, the 25-year-old, an avid bodybuilder who posts frequently about fitness, is launching an ‘All You’ sportswear line that will donate part of its profits to help disabled children get fit.
But he also suggested, with a laugh, that perhaps one day there could be another member of the Carter family in politics.