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Friends, family bid final goodbye to Lady Bird Johnson
15 Jul 2007 20:01:54 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Hilary Hylton

STONEWALL, Texas, July 15 (Reuters) - Friends and family bade a final goodbye to Lady Bird Johnson on Sunday as she was buried next to her husband, former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, at a cemetery on the family's Texas ranch.

About 300 people gathered on the banks of the Pedernales River for a ceremony at the small, tree-shaded cemetery where her pine coffin, laden with flowers, lay beside the large stone marking her husband's grave.

"So I guess this is adios, dear (grandmother), at least for now. Perhaps we'll be able to ride the ranch again some day with our sangrias in hand, but until then we are all very sad to see you go," grandson Lyndon Nugent said in a eulogy.

Thousands of people, many waving American flags and holding wildflowers, lined the roads to pay tribute as the funeral cortege drove the 50 miles (80 km) from Austin to tiny Stonewall, Texas.

The former first lady died on Wednesday at 94 after years of declining health. President Johnson died of a heart attack at the ranch in 1973, four years after leaving the White House.

Their ranch, located in Texas Hill Country, became known as the Texas White House during the Johnson presidency when "LBJ" would return there occasionally to take a break from Washington.

He was elected vice president in 1960 on the Democratic ticket with John Kennedy and became president when Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in November 1963. He won a full term in 1964, but did not seek re-election in 1968 as opposition rose to the war in Vietnam.

Mrs. Johnson was remembered on Saturday at a funeral in Austin as both his loyal wife and a powerful voice for the preservation of nature and for civil rights. She loved wildflowers and urged their planting and preservation along the nation's highways.
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