Jeni Stepanek’s son Mattie had forged a bond with Carter in 2001, days before he was supposed to die. Mattie had said one of his last wishes was to meet with the man he considered his hero.

Jimmy Carter, who considered himself an outsider even as he sat in the Oval Office as the 39th U.S. president, was honored Thursday with the pageantry of a funeral at Washington National Cathedral before a second service and burial in his tiny Georgia hometown.

By Bo Erickson, Jeff Mason and Katharine Jackson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Hundreds of mourners including all five living current and former U.S. presidents packed into Washington's National Cathedral on Thursday to mourn,