Rosalynn Carter Never Knew Life Without Jimmy — She Met Her Future Husband as a Newborn

Rosalynn Carter spent the vast majority of her life — 77 years — married to former President Jimmy Carter, and by all accounts, she had no regrets.

Despite the immeasurable stress they faced at various points in their relationship, Jimmy and Rosalynn never crumbled, always leaning on one another when things got tough. DuBose Porter, the Carters' longtime friend and political ally, once told PEOPLE that when it came to the former first couple, "sometimes it's difficult to know where one ends and the other begins."

Here's the story of how the apparent soulmates first met — in a hospital 96 years ago — paving the way for Jimmy and Rosalynn to progress from childhood acquaintances to long-distance crushes to, eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Carter.

On Aug. 18, 1927, in the small town of Plains, Georgia, nurse Lillian Carter delivered a baby named Eleanor Rosalynn Smith — or Rosalynn, for short. The Carters were friends with the Smiths, and having kids further linked them in a town of just 600 people.

Shortly after Rosalynn was born, Miss Lillian brought her 3-year-old son, Jimmy, into the hospital to make a new friend. (There have been conflicting reports on the exact timing that Jimmy was introduced to Rosalynn, though biographer Jonathan Alter previously told PEOPLE it happened three days after her birth.)

At the time, of course, their introduction didn't mean much. But looking back, it signifies just how far back the longest-married presidential couple goes — a literal lifetime.

Jimmy and Rosalynn weren't fast friends, as Alter has clarified, but they were acquainted through their families growing up. Rosalynn was very good friends, however, with Jimmy's younger sister Ruth, who was closer to her in age and one of the few other girls in town.

It wasn't until after Jimmy went off to the United States Naval Academy that Rosalynn had said her interest in him was piqued, after seeing a photo of him in uniform. Her curiosity didn't run too deep at first, because he was studying far from home.

But one summer while Jimmy was visiting Plains before returning to the Naval Academy for his final year of school, he spotted Rosalynn and asked her out on a whim. They saw a movie together — nothing too special or conversational — yet Jimmy went home that night with a feeling that he had just spent time with the woman he'd marry.

The young lovebirds began dating long-distance, during which time Jimmy coined the acronym "ILYTG" — "I love you the goodest" — as a way to succinctly and briefly express his affection.

Quickly after Jimmy's graduation they tied the knot, beginning their marriage with a series of moves around the United States, going wherever the Navy took them.

In time, they returned to Georgia to grow the Carter family's peanut farming business, each having a hand in operations. The couple grew more politically engaged amid racial tensions sparked by Brown v. Board of Education, and would embark on an unexpected political journey that landed Jimmy in the statehouse, governor's mansion and Oval Office. With each new campaign, Rosalynn helped develop strategy behind the scenes and showed up publicly in support of her husband.

Upon leaving the White House and returning to private life, they co-founded the Carter Center and rebranded themselves as humanitarians and activists, living modestly back in Plains between public appearances and trips.

Over the past 77 years — their anniversary was in July — the Carters went to the ends of the earth with one another as a military couple, humanitarians and, for a brief time, the most visible couple in the world.

When Jimmy battled life-threatening cancer in 2015 at the age of 90, Rosalynn helped him power through it, even knowing that the former president's death was a possibility. He beat the odds and made it to the other side of the health scare.

But in February, after Jimmy opted to terminate further medical intervention and receive hospice care in his Georgia home, it became clear that the Carters' record-breaking marriage was nearing a natural end. In May, Rosalynn was diagnosed with dementia, also entering hospice care in November.

Rosalynn died in her home on Sunday at the age of 96, with Jimmy, now 99, by her side. She never had to know a life without him.