Former US President Jimmy Carter announces unexpected death of grandson

Former President Jimmy Carter announced the unexpected death of his grandson Jeremy to a church class Sunday, just two weeks after he had announced to the same group by revealing he had beaten cancer.

Carter arrived about 25 minutes late to his weekly class at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., and told the congregation his grandson had died just hours earlier, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Carter said Jeremy, 28, was not feeling well Saturday and took a nap in the family’s Peachtree City home. Hours later, his mother found him and realized his heart had stopped, Carter said. He died in a hospital Sunday morning, and the cause of death has not been announced.

Churchgoers told the Journal-Constitution Carter broke the heartbreaking news, then continued with his class and even stayed to take pictures with those in attendance.

“I’m not surprised,” church member Jan Williams told the paper. “That’s the kind of Christian he is. Everything that happens in life, good or bad, he uses as a teaching experience.”