CNN/AP: Lady Bird Johnson given warm memorial amid wildflowers
Former President Jimmy Carter sits with presidential wives Nancy Reagan, Rosalynn Carter and Laura Bush.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- 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 at her funeral.
"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 service.
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.
"Yes, she planted flowers," he said. "She also loved democracy and saw a beauty in it."
Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, first lady Laura Bush and former first ladies Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton attended the two-hour service at Riverbend Centre overlooking the Texas Hill Country....
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/14/ladybird.funeral.ap/index.html