Thousands Pay Respects in O.C. to Pat Nixon

YORBA LINDA — Thousands of mourners, some of them waiting hours under a broiling sun, bade a sentimental farewell Friday to former First Lady Pat Nixon, whose understated grace spoke to so many of them.

More than 90 minutes before the doors of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace opened, several hundred people had already grabbed a place in line to guarantee a five-minute walk past Mrs. Nixon’s closed casket in the library’s terrazzo-tiled lobby.

By nightfall, nearly 5,000 people had paid their last respects, according to Yorba Linda police.

“Pat Nixon was a beautiful, first-class First Lady,” said Janet Franks of San Juan Capistrano, who had come to the viewing with a friend. “She was full of charm and class, and I admire her more than any woman I’ve ever read about.”

Hours before the public viewing, a few dozen curious onlookers in the parking lot strained to catch a glimpse of Nixon family members as they emerged from two limousines. Greeted by the Rev. Billy Graham, the family trailed behind U.S. Marine honor guards who slowly carried the mahogany casket up the library stairs.

Former President Nixon and Graham walked side by side, followed by Julie and David Eisenhower, Tricia and Edward Cox, and the Nixons’ four grandchildren.

After 20 minutes inside the lobby, where the casket was draped with yellow, pink and white roses and where oversize photo portraits of Mrs. Nixon stood among four dozen bouquets of flowers, the Nixon family departed and prepared for today’s memorial service at 10 a.m.

Family members hugged and shook hands before re-entering the limousines. Inside the lead car, Nixon waved to the crowd outside.

Before the public was permitted to enter the lobby, friends and Nixon colleagues filled the lobby to pay their respects.

“She was the most extraordinary woman that I’ve ever met,” said Robert Finch, former secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and one of Nixon’s campaign managers. “She could make her views known when she had to and she was very articulate.”

Ron Ziegler, Nixon’s press secretary, called her “an absolutely magnificent person” who appealed to millions the world over. “There is a void now in our lives we cannot fill,” he said.

Many agreed that Mrs. Nixon’s greatest legacy is her family.

“She is the definition of a First Lady,” said Bruce Herschensohn, a former Nixon White House staff member. “During the last election, there was a real emphasis on family values. The definition of family values is the Nixon family. They stuck together through triumph and tragedy.”

Time and again, friends of Pat Nixon, who died Tuesday at age 81, recalled her endearing relationships with other children, not just her own.

“I traveled with them extensively, and when she reached out to children, children came to her,” said Rex Scouten, a former Secret Service agent assigned to the Nixon family during Nixon’s years as vice president and who now serves as curator of the White House.

“It was the same with her own daughters, she was always busy getting Julie and Tricia to school or taking them to Girl Scouts. She was a wonderful, wonderful mother who never wanted any credit for herself,” Scouten said.

Van Cliburn, the famed concert pianist who had known the Nixon family for 35 years and performed several times for them privately, said his close relationship allowed him a view of the family’s warmth seldom seen in public.

“I’ve seen them in very close, tender moments,” he said. “They are a very, very close-knit group.”

Pat Nixon, he said, was “a valiant lady, strong and determined. A devoted mother and a very affectionate person.”

As the private viewing ended and the public viewing began, mourners made a lingering loop around the casket, where a motionless honor guard stood at either end. The Clintons had sent a huge bouquet of lilies, gladioli and daisies. The Reagans had sent white Casablanca lilies, Queen Anne’s lace and white delphiniums. The traditional cross of white carnations came from Bob Hope and his wife.

Soft 18th-Century classical music completed the peaceful setting.

“It was very moving in there,” said Judy Deeter of Mission Viejo. “What a wonderful way to say goodby.”

Throughout the evening, guests came bearing flower arrangements, some obviously from their own gardens with the stems wrapped in tin foil. The bouquets were laid across the lobby’s reception counter.

“I know Mrs. Nixon loved flowers,” said Jeffrey Lutz of Anaheim, looking down at his yellow carnations bought at a Lucky grocery store.

The crowd was an odd mix. Almost nobody dressed up. Only a handful of men wore ties, and many of the women and children came in shorts, as if this were another tourist attraction to visit on a hot summer’s day. With so many dignitaries in attendance, it was an unusual blend of business suits and beach attire.

There were some exceptions. A woman who gave her name as Countess Von Bredow of Huntington Beach was dressed entirely in black, including a veil.

“She was very much a lady,” she said of Pat Nixon. “She was right behind her husband, in good or bad times.”

Steven Carne, 18, and Bill Burnett, 16, wore identical black suits and white T-shirts with a photo of Richard Nixon on the front of each. Both teen-agers, from Huntington Beach, said their attire was part of a tribute to the Nixon family. Carne, his ponytail hanging from under a Nixon baseball cap, wept after viewing the First Lady’s casket.

“It seems she was the driving force behind him,” said Carne, who was not even born when Nixon resigned the presidency. “When he was down, she kept him going.”

Both teens, who brought single pink roses as a tribute, said they have grown to admire the former President and his family through books published about their lives.

Even as the sun began to fade, the crowd continued to surge, growing longer into the evening along a concrete path that stretched beyond Nixon’s boyhood home. Some freely admitted that they only stopped by because the event was something of an oddity and close to home.

But the majority discussed with heartfelt conviction their abiding love for Pat Nixon.

“I very much respect Pat Nixon as a model mother, grandmother and symbol of the United States,” said Deanna Douglass Fletcher, who arrived for the 5 p.m. viewing two hours and 15 minutes early. “She always supported her husband.”

Fletcher sat cross-legged reading a novel while she waited. Being first in line, she was continually pestered for media interviews. By the time the door opened for the viewing, she had lost her place in line but did not seem at all to mind.

* LOW-KEY SERVICE: Last rites today for First Lady who avoided the spotlight. A12