‘It’s only fitting that he’s home with us now’

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — Gerald Rudolph Ford was laid to rest on the grounds of his presidential museum along the grassy shore of the Grand River on Wednesday after an intimate service attuned to close friends and family.

As the sun set over his hometown, the ceremonies ended nearly a week of mourning for the earnest Midwestern congressman who became an unelected president -- and the man who steadied the nation in the wake of the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War.

Ford died Dec. 26 at age 93 at his home in Rancho Mirage.

A presidential jet delivered his body home to Michigan on Tuesday, where in an 18-hour period an estimated 57,000 people came to view his casket and pay their final respects.

Wednesday began and ended with crisp temperatures and crystal blue skies. Mourners lined the streets, filled alleys and crowded onto bridges to see the hearse and military motorcade as it traveled the six-mile route to Grace Episcopal Church for a final private service.

In front of the church, the crowd stood 20 people deep. No one spoke. No one jostled for space or a better view as the hearse pulled up. Some saluted as the motorcade pulled to a stop.

Only the sound of American flags snapping in the wind could be heard as a military honor guard carried the casket up the curved driveway and into the two-story brick church.

“I waited eight hours to see his casket,” said Joe Hogan, 56, a truck driver from Allendale. “I came to the church to say a final goodbye. He was our man. He was Michigan’s president.

“It’s only fitting that he’s home with us now.”

Inside the church, former President Carter, Vice President Dick Cheney and recently resigned Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who was Ford’s chief of staff and later his Defense secretary, joined other dignitaries, friends and family members.

Widow Betty Ford, who looked frail and spent, swayed slightly as the casket moved down the aisle. Her sons discreetly put their arms around her as their father’s body was placed in front of a simple wooden altar and an ornate deep-blue stained glass window.

Throughout the nearly two-hour service, formal tributes gave way to moments of personal sorrow and warm humor.

Speaking to those gathered in the 350-seat church, to which the family has belonged since the 1940s, Carter remembered a deal he had struck long ago with Ford: Whoever died first would deliver the other’s eulogy.

Carter began and ended his tribute to his close friend and former political rival by quoting his 1977 inauguration speech: “For myself, and for our nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all that he has done to heal our land.”

Richard Norton Smith, former director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum, recounted a meeting he had at the family home seven years ago to discuss the former president’s funeral plans. After a review of the events to come, Smith said, Ford was called out of the room to take a phone call.

“A few minutes later, he returned with a grin on his face and a question on his lips,” Smith said. “ ‘Well,’ he asked in a booming voice, ‘Have you got me resurrected yet?’ I told him I was afraid that was somewhat outside the purview of the Military District of Washington.”

The crowd burst into laughter. Betty Ford giggled so hard, she bent over and her face brightened for a moment.

Rumsfeld recalled the many hurdles Ford faced when he pardoned former President Nixon.

“Because Gerald Ford was there to restore the strength of the presidency, to rebuild our defenses and to demonstrate firmness and clarity, America could again, in Lincoln’s words, stand as ‘the last best hope of Earth,’ ” Rumsfeld said, his voice cracking. “He reminded Americans of who they were, and he put us on the right path when the way ahead was, at best, uncertain.”

As the hearse slowly drove back to the museum, the motorcade passed a wooden sign that had been covered in red, white and blue ribbons: “Welcome to East Grand Rapids. Home of Gerald R. Ford. 38th President of the United States.”

The day’s journey ended at the museum -- a center Ford helped design down to the smallest detail.

At a graveside service that included a 21-gun salute, cannon smoke wafted across the river as the rumbling shots shook nearby buildings. After a 21-aircraft flyover roared across a sunset sky, Cheney presented Betty Ford with the American flag that had been draped over her husband’s casket.

Tears pooling in her eyes, she gently kissed the flag and clutched it to her chest.

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