Austin, Texas – Lady Bird Johnson’s wit, wisdom and love of beauty – in nature, in children and in democracy – were remembered Saturday as family, friends and presidents bade farewell.
“It is unthinkable to me that she’s gone. She was so much a part of our landscape, so much a part of our lives,” Bill Moyers, a television host and former aide to President Lyndon Johnson, said at the private funeral attended by about 1,800.
The former first lady died Wednesday at age 94 of natural causes.
Along with her devotion to preserving wildflowers and native plants, Lady Bird Johnson worked tirelessly for her husband’s political career, Moyers said. He recalled her marathon stumping through the South during the 1964 presidential campaign amid anger that raged at Lyndon Johnson over his signing of the Civil Rights Act. The first lady trudged on despite threats, hecklers and racist signs, Moyers said.
Former Presidents Clinton and Carter, first lady Laura Bush and former first ladies Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton attended the service at Riverbend Centre overlooking the Texas Hill Country.
Carter tapped his foot and President Clinton swayed slightly to the music as a gospel choir sang an upbeat number near the beginning of the ceremony. Members of the University of Texas Longhorn Band finished off the service with a rousing rendition of the “Eyes of Texas.”
Johnson’s daughters Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson and three granddaughters shared stories about the former first lady, whom they called “Nini.” They described her as an unselfish and gracious woman committed to her public duties and to her private family times.
“As you always told us, know that you are loved,” Lynda Johnson Robb said, gesturing toward her mother’s casket.
The funeral marked the second day of three days of ceremonies that began Friday with family prayer services and a public visitation at the presidential library. The former first lady lay in repose nearly 22 hours, and more than 11,500 people paid their respects. She is to buried today at the LBJ Ranch at Stonewall.
