Posted on 06/10/2004 6:31:43 PM PDT by nuconvert
A Glance at Memorials Around Country for Ronald Reagan
The Associated Press
Jun 10, 2004
A snapshot of memorials around the nation for Ronald Reagan:
- Governors declared days of remembrance or mourning Friday in Alabama, Alaska, Illinois, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. Governors in several states called for a moment of silence during Reagan's funeral.
- Las Vegas will lose its glimmer briefly to honor the president: Casino lights will be dimmed for three minutes Friday evening.
- The Alzheimer's Foundation of America, headquartered in New York City, planned to hold a candle-lighting ceremony Friday in Union Square Park to honor Reagan, who suffered from the illness. The association encouraged other groups to hold similar ceremonies; the Alzheimer's Family Organization of New Port Richey, Fla., was among those planning events.
- Bells were to ring 40 times in honor of the nation's 40th president at churches around the nation, including the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, Seattle's Saint James Catholic Cathedral, and the University of Georgia chapel in Athens.
- State offices were to be closed in Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. Massachusetts gave most employees the day off, but not the Legislature, the courts or the offices of other elected officials.
- Republican and Democratic governors from at least 14 states planned to attend Reagan's funeral in Washington, D.C.
- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich named part of Interstate 88 for the late president. The governor and U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert were among those at a memorial Thursday at the Dixon, Ill., church where Reagan was baptized and taught Sunday school. Weekend services were planned at Eureka College, where Reagan graduated in 1932, and in Tampico near the second-story apartment where he was born in 1911.
- A memorial at downtown Cincinnati's Fountain Square on Thursday drew about 250 people, including local and state officials from both parties. Some wore gold cowboy-hat lapel pins in Reagan's honor.
- Many groups gathered signatures in condolence books to be sent to the Reagan Presidential Library in California, including funeral homes in Kentucky and the Clinton Foundation, which is building former President Bill Clinton's library in Little Rock, Ark. Condolence books also were available to sign in Minnesota's and North Carolina's Capitols.
- Friends and supporters of Ronald Reagan planned to tell old political war stories to honor the late president at a remembrance Friday on the steps of the New Hampshire Statehouse in Concord. Memorial services also were planned by states including Minnesota, North Dakota and Vermont. At Indiana's Statehouse, Reagan will be remembered with a photo exhibit documenting visits he made to the state.
- Many schools canceled classes Friday in memory of Reagan, including Eastern Kentucky University, New Mexico State University, Texas A&M, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Wyoming. West Virginia and Marshall universities suspended classes for several hours Friday to allow students to watch the televised funeral service.
- Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad was among the mourners who laid wreaths and flowers at a Des Moines memorial to Reagan near where he lived when he worked in the city as a radio sports announcer in the 1930s.
- At the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, visitors could view one of Reagan's cowboy hats bearing the presidential seal, note cards from his "Tear Down this Wall" speech and a piece of the Berlin Wall.
- Former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley and U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint, battling in a closely watched GOP primary runoff election for U.S. Senate on June 22, canceled campaign appearances and pulled political ads for Friday's national day of mourning. Idaho Republicans decided to put their party's convention on hold so attendees can watch Reagan's funeral.
- The Arizona Republican Party invited the public to gather Friday to watch live television coverage of President Reagan's funeral, and to sign sympathy cards to be sent to Nancy Reagan. Nebraska Republicans planned to gather at the GOP's Lincoln headquarters to watch Friday's services on television.
The only reason this happened in RI is because we have a Republican gov. Doubt it happening with a democrap. Patches Kennedy must be beside himself.
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