SIMI VALLEY, Calif., (Reuters) – First lady Michelle Obama and representatives from nine former presidential families led a bipartisan gathering of politicians and celebrities in paying memorial tribute to Nancy Reagan, whose love for her late husband, Ronald Reagan, was hailed as a romance “for the ages.”
In an invitation-only funeral for about 1,000 guests to her husband’s presidential library in Southern California, the onetime Hollywood actress turned first lady was remembered for the fierce devotion she accorded her spouse during their White House years and his long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“Theirs was a love story for the ages,” former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said of the couple, during a service that organizers say Nancy Reagan herself helped plan in advance. “They had style, they had grace and they had class.”
Former White House chief of staff James Baker called Nancy Reagan the “consummate political wife and first lady,” and a figure whose support, encouragement and political savvy were indispensable to her husband’s political success.
The funeral brought together prominent Republicans and Democrats alike in salute of a woman especially admired by political conservatives at a time when deep partisan rancor has reverberated through Washington and the 2016 presidential campaign.
