Jimmy Carter Celebrates 95th Birthday with 'Quiet Day at Home' Before Habitat for Humanity Trip
Jimmy Carter turned 95 on Tuesday — but the former president isn’t letting his age get in the way of his still active life.
Carter last year surpassed George H. W. Bush‘s record as the oldest living president, following Bush’s 2018 death at 94 years and 171 days old.
After a busy year of volunteering, teaching, traveling and more, Carter, who has been nicknamed the “active ex-president,” is taking the day off to relax for his birthday.
He’ll be celebrating with a “quiet day at home,” according to a spokeswoman — but then he and wife Rosalynn Carter, 92, are heading to Tennessee in a few days for their annual Habitat for Humanity build.
The nation’s 39th president lives in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, with Mrs. Carter, his wife of 73 years.
Following President Carter’s 90th birthday in 2014, he told PEOPLE, “I stayed busy every year and I intend to stay busy as long as I’m physically and mentally able,” adding, “I feel a lot younger … I feel maybe 60, 70.”
Despite breaking his hip in early May, Carter was able to “recover comfortably” and get back on his feet.
In fact, he was on his way to go turkey hunting when he sustained the fall that led to his hip surgery, according to his spokeswoman.
“President Carter said his main concern is that turkey season ends this week, and he has not reached his limit,” his spokeswoman said at the time. “He hopes the State of Georgia will allow him to rollover the unused limit to next year.”
Carter has a long-documented history of spending time outdoors, including for his and his wife’s annual Carter Work Project building homes for Habitat for Humanity.
The Carters will go to Nashville starting this weekend to volunteer at the 36th Carter Work Project, just months after his surgery. They will team up with future Habitat homeowners and other volunteers to build 21 new homes in the city’s Park Preserve neighborhood from Monday to the following Friday, Habitat for Humanity spokesman Bryan Thomas told PEOPLE.
RELATED: At 94, Jimmy Carter Becomes America’s Oldest Living President — Inside His Still-Active Lifestyle
Carter also continues to regularly teach Sunday school at his local Maranatha Baptist Church.
He previously credited his energy to his daily exercise routine (including swimming and riding two and a half miles on his Trikke machine) and a healthy diet.
“He never stops,” close friend and former White House adviser Gerald Rafshoon previously told PEOPLE. “He was 52 when he became president. He was 56 when he left the presidency, and I remember after the re-election loss he was planning his next stop and he wasn’t going to be inactive.”
Carter, who famously worked on his family’s peanut farm before entering into politics, assumed the presidency in 1976. During his one term in office, the Democratic former Georgia governor helped broker a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, but went on to face various foreign policy setbacks.
He lost his bid for re-election to Republican Ronald Reagan. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
The former president also stays politicly active and continues to speak out against the Trump administration.
At an event on Sept. 17, Carter, a regular critic of President Donald Trump, said that he’s still unsure as to which Democrat he’ll be voting for come the next election but he believes it’d be a “disaster” for Trump to serve another term, according to CNN.
“I’m going to keep an open mind. One of the major factors I will have in my mind is who can beat Trump,” Carter said at a town hall at the Carter Center in Atlanta. “I think it will be a disaster to have four more years of Trump.”
In June, Carter said he believed there was “no doubt” that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election and that Trump’s victory was therefore illegitimate.
