Lillian Gordy Carter Lillian Gordy Carter Bessie Lillian Gordy Carter (August 15, 1898 – October 30, 1983) was the mother of former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter. She was also known for her contributions to nursing in her home state of Georgia and as a Peace Corps volunteer in India as well as writing two books during the Carter presidency. Carter was born Bessie Lillian Gordy on August 15, 1898 in Richland, Georgia, to James Jackson Gordy (1863–1948) and Mary Ida Nicholson Gordy (1871–1951). She was the niece of Berry Gordy, Sr., who was the paternal half-brother of James Jackson Gordy
Lillian Cotton Who Was Who in American Art (Falk, 1999) and the Dictionary of Women Artists (Petteys, 1985). Lillian Cotton died in New York City in 1962. Lillian Cotton Lillian Cotton (1892–1962) was an American artist known for her portraits, especially of high-society figures and well-known actors, writers, and artists of her day. Lillian Cotton was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Her father was Nathaniel Hugh Cotton, a West Indies shipping merchant born in Barbados, and her mother was Harriet Emma Clapp. Cotton developed an interest in art as a young child—drawing detailed portraits in sketchbooks as early as age ten—and