NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, June 8, 2004

Some came in their Sunday best, while others looked ready to hit the beach in shorts and flip-flops. All fell silent at the first glimpse of Reagan's flag-draped coffin.

"How blessed the whole world is that he held office for as long as he did," Navy Ensign Laurie Zimmet, 40, of Los Angeles, said early Tuesday. "As far as I'm concerned, he's the greatest president of the 20th century."

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library announced Tuesday that it had extended the end of viewing hours from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. "due to the overwhelming response."

Even with that extended closing time, people had to be in line by 3 p.m. for the shuttle buses that took them to the library from a gathering point at a nearby college, which closed to provide parking.

By 6 a.m. Tuesday, more than 40,000 people had gone through the library, said Duke Blackwood, the library's executive director.

"We knew it was going to be high, but quite honestly we didn't know it was going to be this high," said Gary Foster, a spokesman for the Reagan family.

During the night, traffic ground to a halt on the Ronald Reagan Freeway, with delays of up to four hours, said Mary Clark, a California Highway Patrol dispatcher.

Mourners who made it through the traffic reported waiting up to eight hours for one of the shuttle buses at Moorpark College, even though the number of buses was doubled to nearly 50, then stand in line for three hours or more at the library itself to walk past the casket.

Foster said that by one estimate, 17,000 people were waiting for buses. All had to pass through metal detectors, get their belongings searched and surrender cell phones and cameras.

Reagan died Saturday at 93 after nearly a decade with Alzheimer's disease.

On Wednesday, his body is to be flown to Washington for a ceremony that night in the Capitol Rotunda. The body will then lie in state.

Friday will be a national day of mourning, with all federal offices and major financial markets closed. The state funeral will be held Friday at Washington National Cathedral, with President Bush delivering a eulogy.

The body will then be returned to the Reagan library for burial Friday evening.

Those passing by the former president's coffin were a cross-section of America: retirees, business people, families, veterans.

The public expression of sympathy began after Reagan's body, accompanied by wife Nancy Reagan, 82, and his children, was brought Monday from a mortuary in Santa Monica to the library in the Ventura County hills northwest of Los Angeles.

After a simple service, Mrs. Reagan walked to the coffin and placed her left cheek to it. Her daughter, Patti Davis, hugged her tightly and other family members joined them around the coffin.

Among the first to enter the library after the family service were Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and wife Maria Shriver, who stood silently, crossed themselves and left. But most of those who followed were regular folks.

'In the Hands of God'

Patricia Roccaforte said Reagan had made her feel safe.

"I was praying the whole time he was alive we would live up to all he thought we could do," said Roccaforte, 61, of Tustin. "He was so optimistic about us. He's in the hands of God now, as he always has been."

A man in cowboy boots and jeans held his hat over his heart.

"On my way out, I saluted him. Both of us did," said Don Procter, 83, a former Marine who came from Altadena with his wife, Lorraine.

Though brief, the time in the library was enough for Scotia Alves, 51, of Camarillo, who said she and her husband started a car stereo company in their garage at the beginning of Reagan's presidency.

"Reaganomics was good for business. ... I felt gratitude to him," she said.

Charles Shelton, 38, a Los Angeles lawyer, was struck by the range of people.

"It's a testament, how broad his appeal was," said Shelton, who voted for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in 2000 and plans to vote for Democrat John Kerry but called himself a "Reagan Republican."

"He's a different type of Republican ...," Shelton said. "He was tough, yet graceful."

Salvador Ayala, 74, came from Simi Valley with three other veterans.

"He won the Cold War without firing a shot. He was the greatest president that we ever had, and I'm a Democrat," said Ayala, who served in the Korean War.

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Editor's note: