Paying Respects To Lady Bird
There's a reason we mourn famous people we've never met, or hardly knew. It's an opportunity to put a frame around part of our own lives and examine our memories around the life story of the public person.
Lady Bird Johnson lies in repose today in the main hall of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. It was her wish to come there, to the same spot where her husband lay 34 years ago.
Outside, people are lined up to pay their respects, each with his or her own memories.
Mrs. Johnson's most-mentioned legacy was her commitment to beautifying the nation's highways and public spaces. Much has been written about her love of wildflowers and her campaign to preserve them in their natural settings.
Lucy Goldsmith was waiting in line earlier. She remembers meeting Lady Bird years ago and telling her how she loved the wildflowers.
"When I told her that she lit up like a Christmas tree. And I was so grateful, when I heard she had passed away, that I had told her that."
Mrs. Johnson had Secret Service protection for 44 years - longer than anyone else, according the the Service's records. Jim Hardin, who was the agent in charge of the Johnson detail for 22 years until he retired, says Lady Bird didn't just put up with her protectors, she embraced them.
"She was family to us and we to her," said Hardin. "We got to see and do everything that she did and she included us in that. I mean, she would make comments about - come up here and listen to this, you need to hear this!"
"In 22 years," he said, "I don't believe I ever saw her visibly get upset with anyone. Now, she might have been upset, but she never showed it. She was gracious to each and every person."
Anyone who lives as long as Lady Bird Johnson - 94 years - is bound to leave a lot of memories. And anyone who lives that long is fortunate if - as seems to be the case with Mrs. Johnson - those memories are warm and positive.