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 M. N. Stevens Lillian M. N. Stevens Lillian M. N. Stevens (1843–1914) was an American temperance worker and social reformer, born at Dover, Maine. She helped launch the Maine chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, served as its president, and was elected president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union after the death of Frances Willard. Lillian, known as "Marilla" in childhood, was the fourth of six children born in Dover, Maine to Nathaniel Ames and Nancy Fowler Parsons Ames. Two of her older siblings died in infancy, leaving one boy and three girls. As a child, "she loved the woods, quiet