PALM DESERT, California (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama and three former first ladies were among dignitaries heading to California to pay tribute to former first lady Betty Ford at a funeral focusing on her twin passions: politics and her world-famous Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and alcohol treatment.
Mrs. Ford, who died at age 93 on Friday, had mapped out plans for Tuesday’s ceremony at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, including who would deliver her eulogies.
She chose former first lady Rosalynn Carter and journalist Cokie Roberts as speakers, along with a former director of the Betty Ford Center.
Mrs. Obama, Nancy Reagan and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also planned to be there. And the former first lady of California, Maria Shriver, also planned to attend.
A spokesman for former President George W. Bush said he will be attending the California service and will convey condolences on behalf of his wife, Laura, who can’t attend. Former President Bill Clinton canceled plans to attend because of mechanical problems with a plane he was to fly on.
Other dignitaries who confirmed they would attend were President Richard Nixon’s daughters, Tricia Nixon-Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower; President Lyndon Johnson’s daughters, Lucie Baines Johnson and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb; and Mrs. Robb’s husband, former Sen. Charles Robb.
A second funeral will be held Thursday in Grand Rapids, Mich., where former President Gerald Ford is buried at his presidential museum. Former first lady Barbara Bush is expected to attend that event.
Before the scheduled late-morning arrival of the casket at St. Margaret’s, Palm Desert residents took advantage of the pre-dawn cool to walk dogs, jog and reflect on Mrs. Ford’s life.
“I don’t know where a lot of people would be if it weren’t for her,” said Randy Gaynor, 47, a recovering alcoholic. “There’s been a lot of first ladies, and they did a lot of things, but this will be long remembered after she’s gone.”
Media satellite trucks lined a street near the church, and TV cameras crowded big-rig flatbed trucks across the street.
A program prepared for the service featured a picture of Mrs. Ford, the Emily Dickinson poem “If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking” and the words “The family thanks you for your support,” followed by the signatures Mike, Jack, Steve and Susan, the Fords’ four children.
Jack and Michael Ford were to read passages from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
Speakers were expected to discuss politics, the White House and Mrs. Ford’s impact on substance and alcohol abuse treatment.
Mrs. Roberts said Mrs. Ford asked her five years ago to give a eulogy and specified it should be about the power of friendship to mend political differences, even in these hyperpartisan times.
Mrs. Roberts, a commentator on National Public Radio and member of the noted Boggs political family, said Mrs. Ford asked her to talk about a time in Washington when Democrats and Republicans could be friends and partisan politics did not paralyze government.
It was that way, Mrs. Roberts said, when her father, Democratic Rep. Hale Boggs, was House majority leader and Republican Mr. Ford was House minority leader. She said they could argue about issues but get together as friends afterward. The two families became close, as did the Ford and Carter families, despite Jimmy Carter’s having defeated Mr. Ford in the 1976 presidential election.
Mr. Carter spoke at Mr. Ford’s funeral in 2007. The two families were so close that before his death, Mr. Ford asked the Carters to join his wife aboard Air Force One, which flew his body to its final resting place in Grand Rapids.
“Mrs. Ford was very clear about what she wanted me to say,” Mrs. Roberts said. “She wanted me to talk about Washington the way it used to be. She knew there were people back then who were wildly partisan, but not as many as today.
“They were friends, and that was what made government possible,” said Mrs. Roberts, adding that the topic seems particularly appropriate this week, when the two parties are divided over dealing with the national debt ceiling.
Mrs. Roberts said she expects Mrs. Carter to talk about life in the White House and the important role of first ladies in “greasing the wheels” for their husbands’ accomplishments by forging bipartisan friendships.
Former Betty Ford Center official Geoffrey Mason will also speak. Mr. Mason, a former member of the center’s board of directors, is expected to extoll Mrs. Ford’s vision and determination in building a substance abuse and alcohol treatment center after her own recovery.
Following the funeral, members of the public were to be invited to file past her casket and sign a guest book until midnight.
On Wednesday, her body will be flown to Grand Rapids, where another church service Thursday will feature remarks by Lynne Cheney, wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and historian Richard Norton Smith.
Later Thursday, her body will be interred at the presidential museum along with her husband on the day that would have been Mr. Ford’s 98th birthday.
Associated Press writer Beth Fouhy contributed to this report.
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