Posted on 06/12/2004 3:00:34 AM PDT by kattracks
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. - Ronald Reagan's children said goodbye to their dad yesterday with words of inspiration, bits of poetry, fond reminiscences of childhood - and laughter instead of tears.Youngest son Ron Jr. drew chuckles from the somber gathering at his father's burial, recalling that the nation's 40th President was fond of tugging other people's earlobes.
Some among the 720 family members and close friends even laughed out loud when he told how Reagan once tried to revive the thumbs-up sign, only to have a detractor "hoist an entirely different digit" at him after a big event.
"You see, I think it's catching on," Ron quoted his father as saying with a grin.
Patti Davis touchingly recalled how her dad conducted a funeral service for her dead goldfish, fashioning a cross out of twigs and patiently explaining the concepts of death and heaven.
He made it sound so good, she wanted to send her other fish there, she said, before recalling her father's last breaths.
"I don't know why Alzheimer's was allowed to steal so much of my father," she said. But just before his death, he opened his eyes and looked at Nancy for the last time and "he showed us neither disease nor death can conquer love."
Eldest son Michael told the gathering "I can only promise my father that when I go, I will go to heaven too and you and I and our sister Maureen will dance with the heavenly host of angels."
Sprinkled among the audience were celebrities such as Mickey Rooney, Wayne Newton, Johnny Mathis, Bo Derek, figure skater Scott Hamilton, hockey great Wayne Gretzky, Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra Jr. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, also attended.
The 25-mile route to his library burial site became an impromptu tribute to Reagan as more than 150,000 people lined freeways and farm fields to catch a glimpse of the coffin carrying their former President and governor.
The slow-moving motorcade wound through celery and strawberry fields and residential areas.
"We're to here to see his last ride," said Elaine Hague, 31. "It's a closure of history. He's looking down on us smiling."
Drivers traveling in the other direction on the infamously jammed Highway 101 pulled over and gathered on the concrete median, waving and placing their hands over their hearts.
"I know the President would be touched by the outpouring, and in his self-effacing way, he'd say they were only here out of respect for the office," actor Tom Selleck said at the library.
He said they were also there for Nancy Reagan.
"I know she's touched. What if you gave a party and nobody came? Well, everybody's come," Selleck said.
Scott Baio, who played Chachi in on the hit sitcom "Happy Days," said,"President Reagan made me proud to be an American. Today, I feel sadness."
Talk show host Larry King said the mood during a reception before the burial was almost cheerful, calling it "upbeat," with people "swapping Reagan stories."
"There's a bit of joy in this. It was a terrible affliction. It was a sad way to go. After 10 years of that, it's a blessing," King said.
With Leo Standora
Originally published on June 12, 2004
Yeah. Let us know how it all turns out for you, Larr.
It was a beatifully choreagraphed ceremony with dignity, class, and strength. My wife and I wept through the whole ceremony and turned off the TV and went to bed.
When my hubby saw the bagpiper, he turned to me and said, "I KNOW you're going to lose it now." Ah, he knows me so well.
And when Nancy lowered her head onto the casket and sobbed, dear God. It ripped my heart out. I would've done anything to give Nancy her dear Ronnie back so she wouldn't have to go through this.
He's a truly great man.
lol...my wife said a similar thing to me at the exact same moment. She saw the pipes and said, "Oh, no...bagpipes and Amazing Grace...you're all done, hon."
What a touching moment at the end when Nancy mouthed, "I can't let him go". The sunset, the salutes, everything...just perfect.
And when Nancy couldn't let go of the casket, it brought me back to the funeral of my first husband. If I could've stayed at the cemetery, well, forever or at least a few months, I would've, just me and a little tent set up next to his grave...I knew what she was feeling, oh, did I.
The tears of this life are passing. One day death will be abolished and God will wipe away the tears from all faces and the dead will live again. I live in the hope of the coming of our future resurrection from the grave into this life.
Do you ever consider that the nature of eternity will afford us the opportunity to spend unlimited time with one another on an individual basis, so that we become intimate friends forever? Looking forward to it myself.
Same here 3,000 miles to the east.
Bagpipes and Amazing Grace do it every time.
Wife and I both sat there blubbering.
We've lost our best friend.
No mortal knows what the next life is like. I believe there must be one cause if this life is really all there is, it make no sense to mourn the dead or to have something to live for. I'm an optimist and I think the dead can hear us even though they obviously can't comfort us as we would like to be comforted. The thought they care is what sustains us as long as we are alive.
Got the Clintons to sleep together again , now thats funny stuff.
Yes, indeed!
OH yeah. There wasn't a dry eye around here for that, either.
liberals are calling this evening for conservatives.
Fool there is another day.
The left only worships the darkness of evil. They make the same forgetful mistake. It is morning in America again.
what got me was when she said "i don't want to leave him".
at least I thought she said that.
Nancy's dignity and strength throughout all these ceremonies and services was amazing. I wonder how many of us could've done the same, especially at 82.
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