Thousands say goodbye to uk canada goose Nancy Reagan and a fading era
The three women wearing Reagan red, one in the pearls the former first lady favored, sweltered in a line that stretched forever because, to them, Nancy Reagan represents an endangered time.
“It’s almost all gone,” said canada goose outlet Kathy Melanson who lives near Pasadena, “tradition, canada goose outlet sale class, integrity.”
The women two sisters and a friend boarded the buses that on Wednesday shuttled thousands of people across Simi Valley, past bouquets shaped like hearts and crosses, up a drive lined with American flags to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
There, they said farewell to the former first lady who died Sunday morning at age 94. She lay in a closed casket covered with white roses and peonies.
Public viewing of Nancy Reagan continues Thursday.
Presidential Drive leading up to the canada goose store library will be closed, but free shuttles will be available for visitors at 400 National Way, Simi Valley, where they can also park. Thursday. No large bags or cameras are permitted.
After another day of public viewing canada goose clearance sale on Thursday, a Canada Goose Online https://www.dvu-nds.de private funeral will be canada goose outlet held Friday. buy canada goose jacket She will be official canada goose outlet laid to rest, in the words of one spokesman, “as close as possible” to her husband, former canada goose outlet President Ronald Reagan.
She arrived Thursday morning in a hearse near the front of a motorcade that carried daughter Patti Davis and about two dozen other family members. Son Ron Reagan and canada goose factory sale stepson Michael Reagan were expected at another time.
As the vehicles entered the library drive, dozens of people lined along Madera Road snapped cellphone photos. They placed their hands over their hearts.
It felt surreal to Angelica Super who watched with her sister. Afterward, they talked of how their father immigrated from Mexico and urged them to pursue the highest goals.
For women of all races, Nancy Reagan was a Canada Goose sale role model, said Super who lives in Thousand Oaks. She embodied strength and dignity.
“She was really for the human race,” she said.
Before the public viewing began, two ministers read passages from the Bible in a service for family members and friends.
“Even though we knew this day was canada goose outlet uk sale inevitable, everyone sitting in that room was in canada goose uk canada goose outlet outlet canada shock,” said John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
The buses came earlier than expected, loaded with people wearing everything from business suits to red, white and blue bandannas. One man carried a “Star Trek” book.
They came from Riverside, Bakersfield, east Texas and beyond. Some waited for hours in a line that serpentined across a massive parking lot about five miles from the presidential library.
Jack Rico, who is 9, wore a red bow tie and a black suitcoat. He hails from Whittier and told his mother he wanted to say goodbye to the former first lady.
Waiting in line, Jack offered this explanation for why he liked the Reagans.
“They’re Republicans,” he said.
Others crossed party lines to canada goose outlet reviews pay their respects. The people who came to pay their respects included a woman who immigrated from Belize, a father and daughter who carried pictures of when they visited Ronald Reagan’s casket in 2004 and a survivor of the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center.
Richard Wajda left the tower’s 96th floor to get his mail two minutes before the terrorist attack. He canada goose black friday sale remembered watching Nancy Reagan appear on the television show, “Diff’rent Strokes” as part of her campaign against drugs.
He was 10 and lived in Long canada goose outlet store Island. He took the advice to heart because government, or at least the Reagans, seemed trustworthy.
“I really felt like they were our friends,” he said.
At the library, canada goose outlet nyc people from the buses walked through canada goose outlet in usa a courtyard and past a large picture of Nancy Reagan in a long red dress. Inside, they filed past the casket guarded by officers standing at attention.
“I told her ‘You’re now with your loved one,'” said Nancy Green who arrived in canada goose outlet store uk California Sunday night from east Texas. Then she learned of the death.