Washington Prepares for Farewell to Ford

Under a sunny sky, Betty Ford, her four children and seven grandchildren met the former president's mahogany casket outside the church. It was then carried up the steps by a Joint Services Color Guard to the tunes of "Ruffles and Flourishes," "Hail to the Chief" and the hymn "O God, Our Help in Ages Past," played by the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Band from Twentynine Palms, Calif. The Rev. Robert G. Certain, the rector of the church and a friend of the family, led the casket into the church.

"We receive the body of our brother, Gerald, for burial," Certain said.

Ford's closed casket remained on the church's altar for a private prayer service, a wake for close friends and dignitaries, and a public period of repose -- which drew a crowd of thousands. Among those who came for the wake were former secretary of state George P. Shultz and former congressman Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.).

On Saturday, it will be flown to Washington where it will arrive in the evening for a service at the Capitol Rotunda, to be followed by three days of public viewing. The funeral service for the country's 38th president will take place on Tuesday at the Washington National Cathedral.

Ford, who served as president for 2 1/2 years after Richard M. Nixon's resignation in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal, left the White House after he was defeated by Jimmy Carter in 1976. He is the only president in U.S. history not to have been elected to the White House.

Ford moved to the California desert in the 1970s and divided his time between a home on the grounds of the Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage, a resort town 120 miles east of Los Angeles, and homes near Vail, Colo. He spent his time golfing, skiing, enjoying his family, managing his investments and working for local charities.

As part of a tradition going back to the 1885 burial of former president Ulysses S. Grant -- last observed in 2004 with the death of Reagan -- the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market announced that they will be closed on Tuesday. Other U.S. financial markets are expected to close for at least part of the day.

Among the service members taking part in the California ceremony on Friday, there was a sense of both sadness and duty. Cpl. Victor Norris, 25, an alto saxophone player from Birmingham, Ala., said he was "grateful to have the privilege of touching the lives of these people."

"When you play music in an attempt to move people," he said shortly before joining the rest of the 43-member Marine Corps Band, "it can be difficult. But, today, I believe we will definitely perform in a manner that will be worthy of our former commander in chief."

Certain, the church rector who led Ford's casket into St. Margaret's, said Betty Ford, 88, and the rest of her family, not including her three small great-grandchildren, would mourn from "The President's Pew" -- the pew where they had worshiped on Sundays starting in 1977. "This was their spot, and it will always be their spot," he said. Certain said former president George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, among others, had joined the Fords there over the years.

After the Friday service, the former first lady is set to accompany her husband's remains across the nation for ceremonies that include the services in Washington and another in Grand Rapids, Mich., where Ford will be buried Wednesday on a hillside on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum. Ford spent most of his childhood and practiced law in Grand Rapids before representing the area in Congress for 25 years.

Sheridan reported from Washington.