Posted on 06/08/2004 6:11:10 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Pallbearers from all armed services carry Ronald Reagan's coffin from funeral home in Santa Monica, Calif., for trip 40 miles north to Simi Valley, where it lies in state in presidential library before trip to Washington tomorrow.
Nancy Reagan is consoled by Rev. Wenning after a brief private service with her family near the casket of former President Ronald Reagan before the public viewing period begins at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Monday, June 7, 2004. The remains will lie in repose through Tuesday evening. Ronald Reagan's fragile widow rested her head on her husband's flag-draped coffin and whispered, "I can't believe it" as she gave in to her grief.
Her tears flowed yesterday after she emerged for the first time since the former President's death to begin a week-long farewell.
And as Nancy Reagan publicly showed her heartbreak, details of her final private moment with the love of her life were revealed last night as one of deep sorrow and miraculous surprise.
The former First Lady believes her long-suffering husband recognized her when he stared into her eyes for an instant before taking his last breath, his daughter Patti Davis writes.
"It was the greatest gift he could have given me," the former First Lady told her family.
Sobbing, shaking and knowing death was imminent, she held her husband's hand about 1 p.m. Saturday as he inhaled deeply and opened his eyes for the first time in five days.
While most thought Alzheimer's disease had robbed former President Reagan of all his memory, the last look he gave his wife was one of deep acknowledgment, Davis writes for People magazine in its upcoming edition.
"At the last moment when his breathing told us this was it, he opened his eyes and looked straight at my mother. Eyes that had not opened for days did, and they weren't chalky or vague," Davis recalls. "They were clear and blue and full of life. If a death can be lovely, his was."
Davis and her brother Ron were standing next to their father's bed when the astonishing interchange between their parents took place.
"In his last moment he taught me that there is nothing stronger than love between two people, two souls," Davis writes. "It was the last thing he could do to show my mother how entwined their souls are and it was everything."
The former President died just before Michael Reagan entered his father's room, but he said the look on Nancy Reagan's face revealed she had been given a gift even as she began to mourn her loss.
"His last earthy look was at his wife, his next look was at the face of God," Michael Reagan told People.
The Reagans' personal physician, Dr. John Hutton, could not rule out the possibility that Ronald Reagan recognized his wife of 52 years just before he died.
"Whereas one could not explain it on any medical or physiological terms, I think there must be something to this," Hutton said last night on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann."
"It's something that if you believe in it, you should take great joy and happiness in your belief," he said, adding that such moments have more to do with "the belief of people and their faith."
While her husband's last look lessened the blow of his passing, all the world still witnessed Nancy Reagan's heartbreak as she rested her head on her husband's coffin in yesterday's ceremony at the Reagan Presidential Library in California.
As the tears she initially held back flowed, Davis, her once estranged daughter, took her into her arms.
"He's here," Davis appeared to say.
It was the emotional climax of the wrenching first day of public goodbyes to the 40th President.
Nancy Reagan's grace amid grief awed the mourners who streamed into the rotunda of the library to pay their respects.
"What a great wife," said Manuela Campos of Santa Monica, Calif. "She was totally devoted to him."
The first lap of the former President's state funeral - a journey that culminates with a service Friday at the National Cathedral in Washington, followed by burial back home in California - began just after dawn.
About 500 mourners, some clad in black, others with tears in their eyes, gathered in front of the Gates Kingsley & Gates Funeral Home in Santa Monica.
They waited patiently behind barricades for Nancy Reagan's motorcade to arrive while TV mogul Merv Griffin and Reagan Foundation Chairman Frederick Ryan, asked by the former First Lady to serve as pallbearers, stood in front. Reagan's limousine pulled up at 9:30a.m., and she was greeted with loud applause.
Clad in black instead of her favorite red and wearing pearls, the first steps of the 82-year-old widow appeared unsteady, and Ron and Patti quickly came to help her. Their mom then insisted on stopping to look at the makeshift shrine of flowers, flags and jellybean jars that had sprung up in front of the mortuary.
At one point, she was handed one of the notes and a faint smile creased her face as she read it.
The Reagan clan did not linger long in the funeral home. A few minutes after they stepped outside, an honor guard carried the coffin to a waiting black hearse.
Nancy Reagan was escorted by Army Maj. Gen. Galen Jackman, who continued in that roll the rest of the day.
As she climbed inside her limo, she acknowledged the crowd with a wave that drew wild applause.
"Nancy is an amazing lady," said Kris Brahms of Van Nuys, Calif. "She knew how much the country loved him and admired him. To see her looking at all those flowers, you could tell it was a great comfort to her."
"It was very heartwarming to see Nancy respond to the crowds," added Rona Attwater of Santa Monica. "I'm so moved."
On the 40-mile drive north of Los Angeles to the library in Simi Valley, the hearse passed beneath an enormous American flag suspended by two fire department ladder trucks.
During the moving 15-minute service at the rotunda, Reagan stared at the coffin as Patti clutched her hand.
"Grant, Lord God, that our hearts will be deeply moved and touched by the wonderful memories of this very special human being," said the Rev. Michael Wenning of the Bel Air Presbyterian Church, near the Reagans' longtime home.
"Thank you for the partnership that he and Nancy had shared together, for the wonderful example that they had been to all of us in the nation," he added.
As she smoothed the flag on the coffin with her hands, Wenning and Ron Reagan took turns embracing her while the ex-President's son Michael, whom Reagan adopted with first wife, Jane Wyman, stood nearby.
"I'm the luckiest person on the face of this planet because he chose me to be a member of his family," Michael Reagan said later on his radio show.
When they were gone, a military guard of honor, comprising representatives of all the services, mounted a solemn watch at each corner of the platform bearing the coffin. Among the many who waited in line to say farewell was another actor-turned-politician, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and his wife, Maria Shriver.
My father too. You're right.
How lovely.
Thank you for posting this wonderful article. The Reagan family, such an example of humility, grace, honesty, integrity and class.
The Country, lost a former distinguished President, but the Reagan Family has lost a husband, and father, who they loved very much.
My God, you weren't kidding. I'm crying like a baby.
Reminds me of when my dad died. A similar thing happened.
God Bless Ronald Reagan. Rest in Peace.
Reagan is pictured with wife, former first lady Nancy Reagan (L) and daughter, Maureen Reagan, in Sacramento, California, in this November 3, 1991 file photo. Photo by Lee Celano/Reuters
Just seemed fitting to remember Maureen too.
I saw something very similar when my mother-in-law died 9 years ago, and when my wife died 7 years ago. Both died from cancer, at home, under hospice care rather than in the hospital. Both events were filled with life-changing experiences, too long to go into here.
Although intensive hospital care is often necessary, I have often wondered if the barriers of machines and excessive sedations have robbed our society of the understanding of the transition from life to everlasting life. Life is cheap if we don't understand that the death process is actually a birthing.
FIRST LADIES ARE IMPORTANT!
My mother, who after suffering with cancer for 3 months and didnt recogize any of us for weeks, opened her eyes right before she died, looked at her 3 daughters who were sitting bedside, she looked each one of us in the eye, smiled, and went to be with God.
I think it was a gift from God, to be able to say goodby to her.
To the first man I ever voted for when I was 18, Reagan was a great man, and I am a proud American because of what he brought back to this country
Did I do good on my first post? Glad I found this site.
You did fine on your first post. Welcome to FR.
Very often people in comas open their eyes in one last, lucid moment of life, just before they die. I have heard of this and seen it before.
thanks :)
Glad to find clear thinking people like myself, and to have others to mourn with. I cant make it to Washington to attend the funeral, as much as I wish I could pay my respects to such a truly great American. Being here at this website helps.
Ping
Cut it out. :( Beautiful picture, Iowa, but it's making me cry.
My mother died of Lou Gherigs disease. I lived farthest away and was the last to arrive at the hospital. I have no doubt that mom knew I was coming and lived long enough for me to have my final moment with her, and her with me. She died about 15 minutes later. I am convinced that she "held on" so that we could all be with her at the end.
I have no doubt that the "gipper", as optimistic as he was, would give this gift to his wife. How can anyone doubt that God exists, when we have so many examples of His grace and his strength?
God Bless the Reagans and this great country of ours.
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