Lady Bird Remembered For Her Grace, Beauty

(CBS/AP)  A quiet woman who once turned down a class valedictorian's medal because she feared public speaking, Lady Bird Johnson found herself pulled suddenly into the public eye as first lady when her husband Lyndon B. Johnson became president amid tragedy.

When she died of natural causes at her Austin home Wednesday, at age 94, Mrs. Johnson was remembered as loving and gentle, yet strong in spirit and in her dedication to her family and her passion for nature.

"America lost an extraordinary first lady and fine Texan," President Bush said. "She brought grace to the White House and beauty to our country."

As first lady, she was perhaps best known as the determined environmentalist who wanted roadside billboards and junkyards replaced with trees and wildflowers. She raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to beautify Washington. The $320 million Highway Beautification Bill, passed in 1965, was known as "The Lady Bird Bill," and she made speeches and lobbied Congress to win its passage.

"Every American owes her a debt of gratitude because it was her devotion to the environment that brought us the Beautification Act of 1965 and the scenic roadside development and environmental cleanup efforts that followed," former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton said in a statement. The Clintons also praised her for supporting her husband's "fights for civil rights and against poverty."

Former President Carter said he and his wife, Rosalynn, remembered her "empathy for the disadvantaged. Many people's lives are better today because she championed with enthusiasm civil rights and programs for children and the poor."

"During her husband's campaign for the presidency in 1964, she visited cities in the South considered too racially volatile for his presence," President Carter said. "She was President Johnson's full partner in the War on Poverty, including convincing him to implement the Head Start program and serving as its honorary chair."

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., who started in the Senate in 1959 when Johnson was Majority Leader, said of Lady Bird, "She was a woman of courtesy and courage alike. While her husband, Lyndon, could be brash, she was benevolent. While he could be tough and hard-charging, she epitomized style and grace. Together, they were a formidable pair."

"Mrs. Johnson was a true, strong Texas woman," said family friend and spokesman Neal Spelce, comparing her to historic Texas political women like Ann Richards and Barbara Jordan. "Mrs. Johnson personified that strength, but yet she did it with a very genteel, gracious, quiet, soothing exterior."

She joined in every one of her husband's campaigns and rarely lost her composure, despite heckling, grueling campaign schedules, and her fear of public speaking. She once appeared for 47 speeches in four days.

"How Lady Bird can do all the things she does without ever stubbing her toe, I'll just never know, because I sure stub mine sometimes," her husband once said.

Mrs. Johnson said her husband "bullied, shoved, pushed and loved me into being more outgoing, more of an achiever. I gave him comfort, tenderness and some judgment — at least I think I did."

She was her husband's chief supporter when he challenged John F. Kennedy unsuccessfully in 1960 for the Democratic presidential nomination, although she confessed privately she would rather be home in Texas.

Her husband eventually became vice president. The Johnsons were propelled into the White House with the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of Kennedy in Dallas.

"President Johnson once called her a woman of 'ideals, principles, intelligence, and refinement.' She remained so throughout their life together, and in the many years given to her afterward," President Bush said.

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[vancouverboo]

now she's in hell with her husband, where they both belong.