Lady Bird Johnson buried alongside LBJ

STONEWALL, Texas - Lady Bird Johnson arrived at her final resting place beneath a canopy of oak trees yesterday, beside the late President Lyndon Baines Johnson at the family's ranch in the Texas Hill Country.

Relatives and close friends of the Johnsons said a final goodbye to the former first lady near the banks of the Pedernales River.

Grandson Lyndon Nugent said Johnson made all her grandchildren feel special, whether she was taking them on hiking and camping trips or, especially in her later years, quietly visiting with them at the LBJ Ranch.

His mother, Luci Baines Johnson, reminded her children for more than three decades that it was important to spend as much time as possible with their grandmother, whom they called "Nini," because "she might not be here tomorrow," Nugent said.

"Sadly, tomorrow has arrived," he said.

Johnson, who died Wednesday at 94, was remembered as an astute businesswoman, a woman who worked to preserve nature and the devoted wife of a president.

"I'm not sure why she was so preoccupied with this, but she always seemed to be wondering if she had done enough for the world, regardless of her own condition," Nugent said.

Along with Nugent's remembrance, prayers and "Amazing Grace" completed the brief service, held in the Johnson family cemetery where the late president and more than 30 other extended family members are buried.

Lyndon Johnson, who died in 1973, was president from 1963 to 1969. Once he left office, he and Lady Bird Johnson retired to the ranch and Austin.

Earlier in the day, thousands of admirers, many clutching bundles of the wildflowers she loved, lined streets in Austin and roads in the Hill Country as Lady Bird Johnson's body was taken from the state capital to the LBJ Ranch, 70 miles west of Austin.

Members of the crowd applauded and cheered as the procession passed through downtown Austin, and a few women blew kisses.

Outside Austin, people gathered along highways and in little towns, many holding American flags.

About 1,800 people attended a two-hour funeral Saturday at Riverbend Centre overlooking the Hill Country, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, first lady Laura Bush and former first ladies Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.*