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U.S. NEWS A3
Saturday 12 March 2016
Friends, family say final farewells to Nancy Reagan
MICHAEL R. BLOOD and quick to laugh. But, if Patti Davis, daughter of late former President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan speaks during
Associated Press anyone did anything she the funeral service for the former First Lady at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Friday, March
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) thought was harmful to her 11, 2016, in Simi Valley, Calif.
— Mourners from the top husband, she was fiercely
ranks of Washington and protective and sometimes (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Hollywood paid final trib- quick to anger.
ute to Nancy Reagan on Former NBC anchor Tom
Friday, recalling at her fu- Brokaw recalled that
neral how the former first when he once questioned
lady and her husband the hard-luck story of the
made up “two halves of a president’s early life, Mrs.
circle,” with a legendary Reagan was so angry that
love that seemed to inspire Reagan’s own staff ad-
everyone they met. vised him to stay away
Inseparable in life, the from the White House until
pair were to be reunited she calmed down. Reagan
in death in side-by-side didn’t mind the criticism,
graves at Ronald Reagan’s Brokaw said, but his wife
presidential library. did. “Occasionally I’ve
During a service filled with thought that even God
poignant and often hu- might not have the guts
morous memories, each to argue with Nancy Rea-
speaker came back to the gan,” the couple’s daugh-
couple’s love story. ter, Patti Davis, quipped.
“When they were together, For his part, Reagan spoke
he hid love notes around in public so warmly, and so
the house for her to find,” often, about his wife, for-
said Reagan’s former chief mer Canadian Prime Minis-
of staff, James Baker. “She ter Brian Mulroney recalled,
reciprocated by secreting that he once told Reagan
little notes in jellybeans in he was making every other
his suitcase. world leader look bad in
“Ronald and Nancy Rea- front of their wives. A wa-
gan were defined by their terproof tent was put up
love for each other,” Bak- behind the library to shield
er added. “They were as its 1,000 invited guests from
close to being one person a rainy forecast. Although
as it is possible for any two it sprinkled lightly during
people to be.” the 90-minute ceremony,
Although many speakers the heavens didn’t open
invoked the president’s up into a full downpour
name, they were also until its conclusion, forcing
quick to add that Mrs. Rea- guests to open umbrellas
gan was more than just a as they left. Among those
supportive wife. She was a in the front row were first
force of nature herself. lady Michelle Obama, who
“There would be no Ron- was seated next to former
ald Reagan Presidential President George W. Bush.
Library without a President Hillary Clinton sat between
Ronald Reagan, and there Bush’s wife, Laura, and
likely wouldn’t have been former first lady Rosalynn
a President Ronald Reagan Carter.
without a Nancy Reagan,” The sprawling, Spanish mis-
said the couple’s son, Ron sion-style library is located
Reagan. between the Reagan’s
It was her belief in what her post-White House home in
husband could accom- the upscale Bel Air section
plish that gave his father of Los Angeles and Rancho
the “chutzpah” to seek po- del Cielo, the “ranch in the
litical office, he added. sky” where the Reagans
“It would be a mistake, by spent their leisure time,
the way, to consider her as sometimes on horseback,
somehow subordinate to in the rugged mountains
him just because he was near Santa Barbara.
the one usually taking the The guest list for the funeral
center stage,” Reagan told the story of the cou-
said. “They were co-equals. ple’s life together, which
They complemented one stretched from Hollywood’s
another.” Golden Age to the Califor-
While her husband was nia statehouse during Rea-
affable, Mrs. Reagan gan’s time as governor to
could be loving, friendly Washington.q
