In an invitation-only funeral for about 1,000 guests to her
husband's presidential library in Southern California, the onetime
Hollywood actress turned first lady was remembered for the fierce
devotion she accorded her spouse during their White House years and
his long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
"Theirs was a love story for the ages," former Canadian Prime
Minister Brian Mulroney said of the couple, during a service that
organizers say Nancy Reagan herself helped plan in advance. "They
had style, they had grace and they had class."
Former White House chief of staff James Baker called Nancy Reagan
the "consummate political wife and first lady," and a figure whose
support, encouragement and political savvy were indispensable to her
husband's political success.
After her husband's death at age 93 in 2004, she "dedicated herself
to his memory and his place in history," Baker said.
The funeral brought together prominent Republicans and Democrats
alike in salute of a woman especially admired by political
conservatives at a time when deep partisan rancor has reverberated
through Washington and the 2016 presidential campaign.
The list of VIPs attending the memorial was headed by President
Barack Obama's wife, who sat beside former President George W. Bush
and his spouse, Laura, and two fellow former first ladies - Jimmy
Carter's wife, Rosalynn, and the Democratic front-runner in the 2016
presidential race, Hillary Clinton.
Seated nearby were the Reagans' daughter Patti Davis and son Ron
Jr., - both of whom eulogized their mother - along with Caroline
Kennedy, daughter of the late President John Kennedy, and children
of his three immediate successors - Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon
and Gerald Ford.
ADVISOR IN CHIEF
Davis described her mother and father as "two halves of a circle,
closed tight" while her brother, Ron, said that "as a couple, they
were more than the sum of their parts."
She was to the president, Baker recalled, "absolutely without a
doubt his closest advisor," adding she was particularly adept at
knowing who was truly loyal to her spouse and who was not.
He credited Nancy Reagan with prodding her husband to open a
dialogue with then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a relationship
that helped ease Cold War tensions.
[to top of second column] |
She could be "tough as a Marine drill sergeant ... when things
weren't going well," Baker said, recounting he only saw Nancy Reagan
lose her cool once - the day in March 1980 when her husband was
wounded by gunfire from a would-be assassin.
"She was devastated, and in fact, she fell apart," he said, adding
that she returned with her husband to the White House after his
discharge from the hospital "with a fierce determination to protect
him in every way she possibly could."
Rain began to fall over the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in
Simi Valley, north of Los Angeles, as the service ended and a
military honor guard carried the flower-bedecked mahogany casket
from the memorial gathering beneath a large white tent to a nearby
grave site on the grounds.
Nancy Reagan, who died on Sunday of congestive heart failure at age
94 [nL1N16E06K], was to be buried beside her husband later on
Friday, though no family members planned to attend, having already
"said their goodbyes," according to library spokeswoman Melissa
Giller.
Others dignitaries among the funeral guests were broadcast
journalists Diane Sawyer and Tom Brokaw, California Governor Jerry
Brown, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. House Democratic
leader Nancy Pelosi, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich,
as well as such showbiz figures as Oscar-winning actress Anjelica
Huston and singer Wayne Newton.
Even the actor known as Mr. T, a well-known supporter of Nancy
Reagan's "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign, was in attendance,
wearing an American flag bandanna on his head.
(Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Robert
Birsel, Tom Brown and Diane Craft)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |