Former First Lady Betty Ford Dies at Age 93 | Fox News Former First Lady Betty Ford Dies at Age 93 Published July 09, 2011 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 livefyre Email Print In this Aug. 30,1994 file picture, former first lady Betty Ford talks with reporters at the Old Executive Building in Washington D.C. On Friday, July 8, 2011, a family friend said that Ford had died at the age of 93. (AP) Betty Ford, an outspoken advocate for women's rights whose willingness to reveal her personal problems as first lady endeared her to a nation, has died at age 93, her family said Saturday. Ford, the wife of former president Gerald Ford, died Friday at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, her family said. "Mother's love, candor, devotion, and laugher enriched out lives and the lives of the millions she touched throughout this great nation," the family said in a statement Saturday. "To be in her presence was to know the warmth of a truly great lady.

"Mother's passing leaves a deep void, but it also fills us with immeasurable appreciation for the life we and Dad shared with her." Ford, who was first lady from 1974 to 1977, said things that first ladies just don't say, even today. And 1970s America loved her for it. More On This... Betty Ford -- An Uncommon Woman According to Mrs. Ford, her young adult children probably had smoked marijuana -- and if she were their age, she'd try it, too. She told "60 Minutes" she wouldn't be surprised to learn that her youngest, 18-year-old Susan, was in a sexual relationship (an embarrassed Susan issued a denial). She mused that living together before marriage might be wise, thought women should be drafted into the military if men were, and spoke up unapologetically for abortion rights, taking a position contrary to the president's. "Having babies is a blessing, not a duty," Mrs. Ford said. Ford's death has drawn an outpouring of sympathy from across the nation. "Throughout her long and active life, Elizabeth Anne Ford distinguished herself through her courage and compassion," President Obama said in a statement.

While her death is a cause for sadness, we know that organizations such as the Betty Ford Center will honor her legacy by giving countless Americans a new lease on life." "She was a wonderful wife and mother; a great friend; and a courageous First Lady," former President George H.W. Bush said in a statement on Friday. "No one confronted life's struggles with more fortitude or honesty, and as a result, we all learned from the challenges she faced." "She has been an inspiration to so many through her efforts to educate women about breast cancer and her wonderful work at the Betty Ford Center," fellow former first lady Nancy Reagan said in a statement. "Betty was a remarkable woman whose legacy will live on in people around the country whose lives are longer and better because of her work," former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said in a statement. "We are grateful for her contributions, and for her kindness to us. We will miss her." During her time in the White House, Ford was an outspoken advocate of women's rights -- encouraging the appointment of more women to senior government posts, supporting the U.N. International Women's Year in 1975, and supporting passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.

She also won acclaim for her candor, wit and courage as she fought breast cancer, severe arthritis and the twin addictions of drugs and alcohol. But it was her Betty Ford Center, a desert oasis that rescued celebrities and ordinary people from addiction, that made her famous in her own right. In 1982, Mrs. Ford, together with Ambassador Leonard Firestone, founded the non-profit center at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Today, the Betty Ford Center is regarded as one of the top treatment facilities in the world. She was modest about that accomplishment. "People who get well often say, `You saved my life,' and `You've turned my life around,"' she recalled. "They don't realize we merely provided the means for them to do it themselves and that's all. "That's a God-given gift as far as I'm concerned. I don't take any credit for providing anything that wasn't provided to me." After the former president died Dec.

26, 2006, at age 93, his widow said: "His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country." As she and their children led the nation in mourning him, Americans were reminded anew of her own contributions, as well as his. It was calculated then that the Betty Ford Center had treated 76,000 people. "It's hard to imagine a more important figure in the substance abuse field than Mrs. Ford," Rick Rawson, associate director of the integrated substance abuse program at the University of California at Los Angeles, said at the time. She and her husband had retired to Rancho Mirage after he lost a bruising presidential race to Jimmy Carter in 1976. She went to work on her memoirs, "The Times of My Life," which came out in 1979. By 1978, she was addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs. She would later describe herself during that period as "this nice, dopey pill-pusher sitting around and nodding." "As I got sicker," she recalled, "I gradually stopped going to lunch. I wouldn't see friends.

I was putting everyone out of my life." Her children recalled her living in a stupor, shuffling around in her bathrobe, refusing meals in favor of a drink. Her family finally confronted her in April 1978 and insisted she seek treatment. She credited their "intervention" with saving her life. She entered Long Beach Naval Hospital and underwent a grim detoxification, which became the model for therapy at the Betty Ford Center. She saw her recovery as a second chance at life. "When you come back from something that was as disagreeable and unsettling as my alcoholism, when you come back to health from that, everything is so much more valuable," she said in her book, "A Glad Awakening." Her own experience, and that of a businessman friend whom she helped save from alcoholism, were the inspiration for the center, located on the grounds of the Eisenhower Medical Center. She helped raise $3 million, lobbied in the state capital for its approval, and reluctantly agreed to let it be named for her. Her efforts won her a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, from the first President Bush in 1991.

In October 1999: Gerald and Betty Ford both were awarded Congressional Gold Medals. She continued to be outspoken on public issues, pressing for fellow Republicans to be moderate on social questions. She spoke out in favor of gays in the military in a 1993 Washington Post interview, saying they had been serving for many years. During the Clinton presidency, Mrs. Ford praised first lady Hillary Clinton, saying she had been with her at a meeting on health care and found her "courteous, charming, able, attractive. ... She asks good questions. She picked out one of the most demanding roles she possibly could." In 2005, she was presented with the Gerald R. Ford Medal of Distinguished Public Service from her husband's foundation, telling the gathering that it was "very, very special." She added in her typical candor: "It's kind of all in the family, and I feel a little guilty about it." Mrs. Ford's first public appearance after her husband's death was in August 2007, when she attended a ceremony near Rancho Mirage as a postage stamp honoring the late president was issued. She did not speak.

Elizabeth Bloomer was born in Chicago on April 8, 1918, and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich. She was talented in dancing and ultimately studied with the great dancer and choreographer Martha Graham. She also worked as a model to make extra money during the Depression. An early marriage to a furniture company representative, William Warren, ended in divorce before she met Gerald Ford, a lawyer just out of the Navy. When he proposed in 1948, she said later, she had no idea he planned a political career. "I really thought I was marrying a lawyer, and we'd be living in Grand Rapids," she recalled. Then he announced his plan to run for Congress and even made a campaign appearance during their honeymoon. Political life was hard for her. While her husband campaigned or worked late on Capitol Hill, she raised their four children: Michael Gerald, born in 1950; John Gardner, born in 1952; Steven Meigs, born in 1956; and Susan Elizabeth, born in 1957. The children were in their late teens and early 20s by the time the Fords moved into the White House and only Susan lived there.

But they were a close family, gathering at Vail, Colo., for Christmas skiing vacations. She became an outspoken advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment, favored legal abortion and supported drafting women for the armed services. When asked on "60 Minutes" what she would do if her daughter, Susan, had an affair, she responded, "Well, I wouldn't be surprised. I'd think she was a perfectly normal human being. ... If she wanted to continue, I would certainly counsel and advise her on the subject." A family spokeswoman says Betty Ford's children and relatives are traveling to California to make funeral arrangements for the former First Lady. The family expects to organize a service in Palm Springs over the next couple days. Ford's body will be sent to Michigan for burial alongside former President Gerald Ford, who is buried at his namesake library in Grand Rapids. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Advertisement Ex-first lady, advocate for substance abuse treatment Betty Ford dies - CNN.com Ex-first lady, advocate for substance abuse treatment Betty Ford dies By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Stevie Nicks: "As far as I'm concerned, Betty Ford saved my life." President Obama calls her "a powerful advocate" for health and women's rights Betty Ford was surrounded by family members, a relative says The widow of Gerald Ford was an advocate for substance abuse treatment (CNN) -- Betty Ford, the widow of late President Gerald Ford and a co-founder of an eponymous addiction center in California, has died at the age of 93, according to the director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum. Ford died Friday evening with family at her bedside, according to a family member. Elaine Didier, the director of the Grand Rapids, Michigan, museum, confirmed Ford's death to CNN. No other details were immediately available. The family is expected to release a statement later Friday or Saturday, Didier said. Condolences began pouring in soon after news broke about her death -- including from celebrities who sought treatment at the Betty Ford Center.

'She was a great First Lady' Betty Ford dies Gerald Ford "As far as I'm concerned, Betty Ford saved my life," Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks said. Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler, who revealed in his recent autobiography that he was treated at the Betty Ford Center for drug addiction, also praised Ford's work. "Betty Ford took a risk at one of the worst times of her life and came forward to share a message of recovery in order to serve others," Tyler said. "Her vision, passion and amazing heart led to the Betty Ford Center, the gold standard of treatment facilities. She will be missed, but her work in recovery will live on." President Barack Obama remembered the former first lady as a "powerful advocate for women's health and women's rights" and someone who "helped reduce the social stigma surrounding addiction." His predecessor, George W. Bush, added that "because of her leadership, many lives were saved." Some of the many others offering praise and sympathy included Nancy Reagan (calling Ford "an inspiration"), and former presidents George H. W.

Bush (describing her as a "wonderful wife and mother, a great friend and a courageous first lady) and Jimmy Carter (saying she was "a close personal friend" and "a remarkable political spouse.") Born Elizabeth Anne Bloomer in Chicago, she grew up in Grand Rapids. At the age of 21, she moved to New York City to work as a dancer and model. She returned to the Midwest two years later. One year after divorcing William Warren after five years of marriage, she wed Gerald Ford -- a former star football player at the University of Michigan, decorated U.S. Navy veteran and budding Republican politician -- in 1948. That year, the woman now known as Betty Ford campaigned with her new husband on his successful venture to become a U.S. congressman from Michigan. She gave birth to three sons and a daughter over the course of their 58-year marriage. The family moved to Washington, where Gerald Ford served in the Capitol for 25 years before being tapped in 1973 as then-President Richard Nixon's vice president in place of Spiro T. Agnew.

Just over 10 months later, Betty Ford became first lady when her husband was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States. Gerald Ford took office after Nixon resigned in the wake of his pending impeachment following the crisis and cover-up of the break-in at the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington. Betty Ford soon made headlines, holding press conferences and publicly discussing her diagnosis with breast cancer. The first lady talked about abortion, pre-marital sex and equal rights in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" in 1975 -- the same year Newsweek named her its "Woman of the Year." According to the Ford library and museum's website, her candidness initially drew some criticism, but in a short time, 75% of Americans approved of her in public opinion polls. But in 1978, just over one year after leaving the White House after her husband lost his campaign to remain president, Ford made headlines of a different kind. She entered the Long Beach Naval Hospital to seek treatment for alcohol and prescription painkiller abuse.

That same year, she published the first of two autobiographies, entitled "The Times of My Life." Ford would go on to become a high-profile example of someone who battled substance abuse issues and was a tireless advocate for drug- and alcohol-abuse treatment. "My addiction was a combination of alcohol and the prescription drugs that ... both were a part of my life, but they did not become a problem until they overrode my common sense," Ford told CNN's Larry King in 2003. "I didn't know what was happening, I just knew that I felt great and the pain was gone." Her work paid dividends in October 1982 when, along with Leonard Firestone, she opened the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. To this day, the center remains one of the most well-known and respected places nationwide for treatment of alcoholism and other drug dependencies. Ford also fought to promote awareness and research on breast cancer, with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation eventually naming an award in her honor. She earned numerous honors over her life, including a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991 and the Congressional Gold Medal eight years later.

Gerald Ford died on December 26, 2006, at the couple's home in Rancho Mirage. He was 93. CNN's Denise Quan contributed to this report. Share this on: Nancy Reagan: Charm, grace, and a passion for America Nancy Reagan: Charm, grace, and a passion for America Former first lady died of congestive heart failure Post to Facebook Nancy Reagan: Charm, grace, and a passion for America Former first lady died of congestive heart failure Check out this story on USATODAY.com: CancelSend A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. 213 To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Nancy Reagan: Charm, grace, and a passion for America Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Nancy Reagan attends the unveiling of a statue of her husband, President Ronald Reagan, in Washington, D.C., on June 02, 2009. Nancy Reagan died of congestive heart failure on March 6, 2016, at her home in Los Angeles, according to a family spokesman. She was 94.

Karen Bleier, AFP/Getty Images Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 First lady Nancy Reagan and her husband, President Ronald Reagan, at a luncheon in New Orleans honoring her for her work to combat drug abuse on Aug. 15, 1988. Mike Sargent, AFP/Getty Images Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Reagan waves to the delegates at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia on Aug. 1, 2000. Eileen Blass, USA TODAY Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Former president Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan in Washington after she spoke at a White House Conference on 'Drug Free America' on May 10, 2000. MIKE SARGENT, AFP/Getty Images Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Nancy Reagan talks to supporters of her husband's campaign for the 1976 Republican presidential primary at Jack London's home and ranch in Glen Ellen, Calif. on April 7, 1976.

The Arizona Republic, USA TODAY NETWORK Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Nancy Reagan poses for a portrait during her husband's 1976 campaign for the Republican presidential primary. The Arizona Republic, USA TODAY NETWORK Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Nancy Reagan poses for a portrait in April 1976 during her husband's campaign for the Republican presidential primary. The Arizona Republic, USA TODAY NETWORK Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Former California governor Ronald Reagan, with his wife, Nancy, speaks at the Trunk n Tusk dinner in Phoenix on Apr 8, 1976, during his campaign for the 1976 Republican presidential primary. The Arizona Republic, USA TODAY NETWORK Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Nancy Reagan, wife of California governor Ronald Reagan, on April 8, 1968. The Arizona Republic, USA TODAY NETWORK Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis arrive for the Screen Writers Guild Dinner at the Ambassador Hotel in Hollywood, Calif., in February 1951.

Ed Widdis, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Ronald Reagan and his bride, Nancy Davis, smile at each other as they pose after their marriage in the Little Brown Church of the Valley in North Hollywood, Calif., on March 4, 1952. AP The Reagans are shown in a scene from the 1957 movie "Hellcats of the Navy." AP The Reagans attend a July 16, 1959, Hollywood movie premiere. AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 The Reagans arrive for the West Coast premiere of "Cleopatra" at Pentagon Theater in Hollywood on June 19, 1963. AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Reagan talks with son Ronnie in the living room of their home in Pacific Palisades on July 21, 1966.

AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 The Reagans speak to attendees at a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., on March 11, 1970, where Ronald Reagan announced his plans to seek a second term as California governor. AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Nancy Reagan, wife of California governor Ronald Reagan, poses for a portrait on March 28, 1972. The Arizona Republic, USA TODAY NETWORK Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Ronald Reagan embraces his wife, Nancy, after debating President Jimmy Carter in Cleveland on Oct. 29, 1980. AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Chief Justice Warren Burger administers the oath of office to Ronald Reagan as Nancy Reagan holds the Bible on Jan. 20, 1981. AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 The Reagans wave from a limousine during the inaugural parade in Washington following Reagan's swearing-in as the 40th president of the United States on Jan. 20, 1981.

AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 The Reagans dance on Jan. 20,1981, at an inaugural ball at the Pension Building in Washington. AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Frank Sinatra applauds next to first lady Nancy Reagan at the National Italian-American Foundation's 10th Anniversary Gala in Washington on Oct. 19, 1985. AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 First lady Nancy Reagan holds their dog Rex, a King Charles spaniel, as she and President Reagan walk on the White House South lawn in December 1986. Dennis Cook, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 President Reagan and Nancy Reagan wave as they board Air Force One at Sky Harbor Airport after their visit to Phoenix on May 6, 1983. The Arizona Republic, USA TODAY NETWORK Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 President Ronald Reagan cuts in on singer Frank Sinatra as he was dancing with Nancy Reagan during a party in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 6, 1981.

AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Claudette Colbert, right, receives a backstage visit from the Reagans after she appeared in the play "A Talent for Murder" in Washington in this 1981 photo. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, Associated Press Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 The Reagans and Press Secretary James Brady take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 9, 1981, for the refurbished press room at the White House. AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 The Reagans take a ride at their ranch, Rancho del Cielo, in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1982. AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Reagan shares a laugh with Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, and other entertainers at a salute to country music at Constitution Hall in Washington on March 16, 1983.

Ira Schwarz, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 The Reagans walk through the thousands of graves in the American Cemetery in Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, on June 6, 1984, during ceremonies for the 40th anniversary of D-Day. Bob Daugherty, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Ronald Reagan, with first lady Nancy Reagan looking on, takes the oath of office for his second term as president from Chief Justice Warren Burger in a private White House ceremony in January 1985. Ira Schwarz, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 The Reagans talk to the news media on their ranch, Rancho Del Cielo, 30 miles northwest of Santa Barbara, Calif., in August 1985. Steve Malone, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Reagan presents a "Just Say No" T-shirt to Bradley Nash during a visit to Harpers Ferry, W.Va., on Sept. 11, 1986.

Bob Daugherty, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Talk-show host Joan Rivers meets with Nancy Reagan during her appearance on "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers" on Oct. 30, 1986. Reed Saxon, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 The Reagans pose with Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev at their ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif., in May 1990. Steve Malone, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Five former first ladies pose with then-first lady Hillary Clinton at the National Garden Gala in Washington on May 11, 1994. Shown from left are Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and Clinton. Shayna Brennan, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 The Reagans tour the "Christmas Around the World" exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on Nov. 22, 1994, in Simi Valley, Calif. Mark J.

Terrill, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Former president Gerald Ford, center left, and his wife, Betty, far left, along with Reagan and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, right, share a moment during the celebration of former president Ronald Reagan's 85th birthday at Chasen's restaurant in West Hollywood, Calif., on Feb. 6, 1996. Reed Saxon, AP Reagan speaks at the Republican National Convention in San Diego on Aug. 12, 1996. Bob Riha Jr., USA TODAY Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Then-first lady Hillary Clinton and former first ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Barbara Bush, Betty Ford and Nancy Reagan attend the opening celebration of the George Bush Library on Sept. 7, 1997, in College Station, Texas. John Mottern, AFP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 President Bill Clinton and others applaud as Reagan arrives for the dedication of the new Ronald Reagan Building in Washington on May 5, 1998. H.

Darr Beiser, USA TODAY Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Reagan is followed by guest speaker Rudy Giuliani at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Auditorium prior to his speech in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 30, 1999. Michael Caulfield, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Nancy and Ronald Reagan celebrate his 89th birthday on Feb. 6, 2000, at their Los Angeles home. Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Reagan stands with an unidentified officer watching as military pallbearers carry the casket of former president Ronald Reagan to a hearse in Santa Monica, Calif., on June 7, 2004. Reed Saxon, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Reagan kisses the casket of her husband prior to the removal of his coffin from the Capitol Rotunda on June 11, 2004.

Elise Amendola, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Nancy Reagan places a bouquet of white roses on the gravesite of her late husband to commemorate the one-year anniversary of his passing at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif., on June 5, 2005. Alex Berliner, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Former president George H.W. Bush stands with Reagan after she presented him with the 2007 Ronald Reagan Freedom Award on Feb. 6, 2007, during a ceremony in Beverly Hills, Calif. Robyn Beck, AFP/Getty Images Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 President George W. Bush with former first lady Nancy Reagan during the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in tribute to her husband, former president Ronald Reagan, in Washington on May 15, 2002. Tim Sloan, AFP/Getty Images Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 California Gov.

Arnold Schwarzenegger escorts Reagan into the Air Force One Pavilion to attend the first Republican candidates' first debate of the 2008 presidential race at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on May 3, 2007. Robyn Beck, AFP/Getty Images Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Former first ladies Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan leave the National Cathedral in Washington following the funeral of former president Gerald Ford on Jan. 2, 2007. H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Reagan stands alongside President Obama as he signs the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act in the Diplomatic Room of the White House on June 2, 2009. Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, left, and Rick Perry, right, meet with Reagan before the presidential debate at the Reagan Library on Sept. 7, 2011, in Simi Valley, Calif.

Chris Carlson, AP Nancy Reagan, 1921 – 2016 Reagan visits the grave site of the late former president Ronald Reagan at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on June 5, 2014, in Simi Valley, Calif. Mark J. Terrill, AP REMEMBERING NANCY REAGANNancy Reagan dies at 94 | 2:25 The former first lady died of congestive heart failure.

14 of 14 President Obama to skip Nancy Reagan's funeral to attend SXSW Nancy Reagan's casket arrives at Reagan Library Family Of Nancy Reagan Honors Former First Lady Nancy Reagan funeral to be held Friday Former Staffer Recalls Working With Nancy Reagan Nancy Reagan Remembered for Role As First Lady Funeral Plans Announced for Nancy Reagan Obama: Nancy Reagan 'charming' and 'gracious' Moment of silence held for Nancy Reagan during debate Nancy Reagan's legacy: Love Schwarzenegger Honors Reagan at Kasich Rally Veteran Pays Respects to Nancy Reagan at Library Former US First Lady Nancy Reagan dies Nancy Reagan dies at 94 Former first lady Nancy Reagan dies at 94 | Reuters Mon Mar 7, 2016 | 11:14 AM EST Former first lady Nancy Reagan dies at 94 By Will Dunham Nancy Reagan, the former actress who was fiercely protective of husband Ronald Reagan through a Hollywood career, eight years in the White House, an assassination attempt and her husband's Alzheimer's disease, died on Sunday at age 94. The cause of death was congestive heart failure, said a spokeswoman for the Reagan presidential library. She died at her Los Angeles home.

"She is once again with the man she loved," her stepson Michael Reagan wrote on Twitter. Reagan became one of the most influential first ladies in U.S. history during her Republican husband's presidency from 1981 to 1989. Her husband, who affectionately called her "Mommy" while she called him "Ronnie," died in 2004 after a long struggle with Alzheimer's, the progressive brain disorder that destroys memory. As news of Nancy Reagan's death spread, tributes poured in from Washington to Hollywood. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and first lady Michelle Obama said Nancy Reagan redefined the role of first lady. "Nancy Reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the White House," the Obamas wrote in a joint statement on Sunday. "She was right, of course. But we had a head start, because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice." Former first lady Barbara Bush said she and her husband, former President George H. W. Bush, who was vice president under Reagan, took comfort in knowing Nancy Reagan would be reunited with her husband, the late president.

The Hollywood glitterati weighed in on social media, many of them grieving the passing of an icon they remembered having grown up in the Reagan era. "I sat near #Nancy Reagan once and felt like a teenager seeing one of my idols. She was a BOSS," wrote actress Elizabeth Banks of "The Hunger Games" fame. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who like Ronald Reagan rode his Hollywood fame to the governor's office in California, said on Twitter that Nancy Reagan was "one of my heroes." CANDIDATES CONVEY SYMPATHIES Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential nomination, from businessman Donald Trump to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, also conveyed their sympathies. The ghost of Ronald Reagan, who remains deeply popular among Republican voters, has hovered over the campaign as in previous years, with party candidates vying to claim the mantle of Reagan's legacy. A Republican debate in September took place at the Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California, with an Air Force One jet providing a memorable backdrop. Nancy Reagan will be buried next to her husband at that library. The public would have a chance to pay their respects prior to the funeral service, with details to come shortly.

Nancy Davis was a Hollywood actress during the 1940s and 1950s and married Reagan, a prominent film actor, in 1952. She then served as first lady of California during her husband's stint as California governor from 1967 to 1975 before moving into the White House after his decisive victory over incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1980. Her most publicized project as first lady was the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign. After her husband developed Alzheimer's disease, she became an advocate for discovering a cure. She was diminutive and publicly soft-spoken, but Nancy Reagan's strong will, high-tone tastes and clout with her husband made her a controversial figure during his presidency. As Reagan's wife, political partner and adviser, she became one of America's most potent first ladies, alongside the likes of Franklin Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor, Woodrow Wilson's wife, Edith, and Bill Clinton's wife, Hillary. "I see the first lady as another means to keep a president from becoming isolated," she said in 1985. "I talk to people. They tell me things.

And if something is about to become a problem, I'm not above calling a staff person and asking about it. I'm a woman who loves her husband and I make no apologies for looking out for his personal and political welfare." Tiny and frail in her later years, Reagan devoted her time to caring for her ailing husband at their home in Los Angeles' exclusive Bel Air enclave. She was always a stickler for protocol and detail and stoically presided over the former president's weeklong funeral and celebration of his life in June 2004. 'I FORGOT TO DUCK' One of her most trying times as first lady came when John Hinckley stepped out of a crowd outside a Washington hotel on March 30, 1981, and fired six shots toward the president, striking him in the chest. A .22-caliber bullet punctured his lung and nearly entered his heart. "Honey, I forgot to duck," he told her at the hospital. Some critics lambasted Nancy Reagan as a meddlesome "dragon lady," derided her anti-drug campaign and ridiculed her for consulting an astrologer to schedule presidential events.

President Reagan called this view of his wife "despicable fiction," saying in 1987: "The idea that she is involved in governmental decisions and so forth and all of this, and being a kind of dragon lady - there is nothing to that." The reputation was established during her husband's time as California governor and followed her to Washington. She was first accused of being a vacuous spendthrift interested chiefly in renovating and buying new china for the White House, lavish entertaining, her designer wardrobe and the like, then portrayed as a cunning manipulator of policy and people. Advocates of the latter view saw her influence as virtually unlimited in such matters as the dumping of presidential advisers, efforts to get a nuclear arms accord with the Soviet Union and her husband's decision to seek a second term in 1984. Some Reagan-watchers said reports of Mrs. Reagan's influence were exaggerated and that it was merely the protective concern of a loving wife. She frequently clashed with President Reagan's chief of staff, Donald Regan, who lambasted her in a 1988 "tell-all" book after he was ousted from the White House during the chaos of the Iran-Contra scandal in 1987.

Regan disclosed that she had used astrology to decide the timing of presidential speeches and trips, and even her husband's 1985 cancer surgery. "Virtually every move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House chief of staff was cleared in advance by a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise," Regan wrote. James Baker, who served as White House chief of staff during Reagan's first term, took a different view, telling PBS in 2011: "If there was one person who was indispensable to Ronald Reagan's political success, it was Nancy Reagan." In a statement in Sunday, Baker said Nancy Reagan was "her husband's closest adviser, his constant protector, and most importantly the love of his life." Nancy Reagan acknowledged she had the ear of her husband. "In most good marriages that I know of, the woman is her husband's closest friend and adviser," she wrote in her 1989 memoir, "My Turn." "... But however the first lady fits in, she has a unique and important role to play in looking after her husband. And it's only natural that she'll let him know what she thinks.

I always did that for Ronnie and I always will." Ronald Reagan was known for penning innumerable letters to his wife. In one, he stated: "I more than love you, I'm not whole without you. You are life itself to me. When you are gone I'm waiting for you to return so I can start living again." 'RONNIE'S LONG JOURNEY' The former president's Alzheimer's struggle made Mrs. Reagan a campaigner for broader human embryonic stem cell research, a stand that put her at odds with many Republicans. "Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him. Because of this, I'm determined to do whatever I can to save other families from this pain," she said before his death in 2004. Some critics dismissed her "Just Say No" efforts as simplistic but she became America's most visible anti-drug crusader at a time when the crack cocaine epidemic was raging. In 1988, she addressed the U.N. General Assembly, saying the United States must do more with tougher law enforcement and anti-drug education efforts and should stop blaming the poor nations that produce most of the narcotics used by Americans.

"We will not get anywhere if we place a heavier burden of action on foreign governments than on America's own mayors, judges and legislators. You see, the cocaine cartel does not begin in Medellin, Colombia. It begins in the streets of New York, Miami, Los Angeles and every American city where crack is bought and sold," she told the General Assembly. After leaving the White House, she created the Nancy Reagan Foundation to continue her anti-drug campaign. The organization helped develop the Nancy Reagan Afterschool Program in 1994 aimed at drug prevention and life skills for youth. Mrs. Reagan had her left breast surgically removed in October 1987 after a cancerous tumor was discovered. She was born Anne Frances Robbins into a crumbling marriage in New York on July 6, 1921. Her car-salesman father deserted the family soon after, and her mother, actress Edith Luckett Robbins, resumed her show business career two years later. In 1929, her mother married Loyal Davis, a neurosurgeon.

Nancy came to adore him, even taking his name, and the doctor was believed to have had considerable influence on his eventual son-in-law's shift from Democrat to Republican years later. After graduation from elite Smith College, she worked as a nurse's aide, then began a stage career in New York. Starting in 1949, she had an eight-year career in films including one - "Hellcats of the Navy" (1957) - co-starring with Ronald Reagan. She often took supporting roles but had starring roles like one in the 1953 B-movie "Donovan's Brain" about a scientist who kept the brain of a dead millionaire alive in a tank. Ronald Reagan divorced another actress, Jane Wyman, in 1948. They had a daughter, Maureen, and adopted a son, Michael. At the time, Ronald Reagan headed the Screen Actors Guild. Davis was stunned when an industry newspaper published a list of communist sympathizers and her name was included (it turned out to be a reference to another actress of the same name). She sought out her future husband for assistance.

During the early years of the Cold War, Hollywood blacklisted - refused to employ - numerous people accused of holding communist views, ruining many careers and lives. Ronald and Nancy Reagan got married in 1952 and had two children together - Patti Davis, an actress, and Ron Jr., who pursued careers in ballet and television. She is also survived by her brother, Richard, according to the Reagan presidential library. (Reporting and writing by Will Dunham in Washington; Additional reporting by Joseph Ax, Karen Brooks, Megan Cassella; Editing by Bill Trott, Diane Craft, Jeffrey Benkoe and Howard Goller) ADVERTISEMENT 1/19 Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy wave while attending a gala celebrating his 83rd birthday in Washington in this February 3, 1994 file photo. Reuters/Mike Theiler/Files + 2/19 A former childhood home of U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan, who died age 94 on Sunday, is seen along Roosevelt avenue between 149th and 150th Streets in the Queens borough of New York March 7, 2016.

Reuters/Shannon Stapleton + 3/19 A hearse leaves the estate of former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan, who died at the age of 94, in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California March 6, 2016. Reuters/Jonathan Alcorn + 4/19 LAPD officers stand in line outside the estate of former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan, who died at the age of 94, in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California March 6, 2016. Reuters/Jonathan Alcorn + 5/19 U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy kiss on their wedding anniversary in the White House in this March 4, 1985 file photo. Reuters/Files + 6/19 Former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan stands next to an image of the President Ronald Reagan commemorative postage stamp during a ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California in this November 9, 2004 file photo. Reuters/Robert Galbraith/Files + 7/19 Former U.S.

first lady Nancy Reagan smiles as she passes photographers after Texas Governor George W. Bush delivered his first major foreign policy speech at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California in this November 18, 1999 file photo. Reuters/Sam Mircovich/Files + 8/19 Nancy Reagan touches the casket of her husband, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, as it lies in state in the rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington in this June 9, 2004 file photo. Reuters/Peter Jones/Files + 9/19 (From L to R) U.S. President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan escort Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Dennis to the British Embassy in Washington for a reception in this February 20, 1985 file photo. Reuters/Charles Cancellare/Files + 10/19 Former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan acknowledges applause during a ceremony in the Capitol to present her with the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress' highest civilian honor, in this May 16, 2002 file photo. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/Files + 11/19 Former U.S.

first lady Nancy Reagan looks out from her car before the casket of her husband, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was brought down the steps of the Capitol building for the ride to National Cathedral for a state funeral in Washington in this June 11, 2004 file photo. Reuters/Stringer/Files + 12/19 Nancy Reagan (R) reaches out to Ron Reagan Jr., as Patti Davis looks on, during the funeral for former U.S. president Ronald Reagan at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington in this June 11, 2004 file photo. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/Files + 13/19 Former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan receives a standing ovation during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in this May 16, 2002 file photo. Reuters/Win McNamee/Files + 14/19 U.S President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan leave the White House en route to Bethesda Naval Hospital for the President's physical exam in this October 29, 1981 file photo. Reuters/Mal Langsdon/Files + 15/19 Former U.S.

first lady Nancy Reagan (back row L) is joined by Barbara Bush (back R) and former first ladies (front row L to R) Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Rosalyn Carter and Betty Ford for a group picture at the opening ceremony of the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California in this November 4, 1991 file photo. Reuters/Gary Cameron/Files + 16/19 U.S. President Barack Obama escorts former first lady Nancy Reagan to a signing ceremony for the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington in this June 2, 2009 file photo. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/Files + 17/19 U.S. President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush (R) greet former first lady Nancy Reagan at Blair House in Washington in this June 10, 2004 file photo. Reuters/Stringer/Files + 18/19 U.S President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan return to the White House after spending a weekend at Camp David in this February 15, 1982 file photo.

Reuters/Mal Langsdon/Files + 19/19 Former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan, who spearheaded the 'Just Say No' anti-drug campaign during her husband's administration, testifies before a House Government Reform subcommittee in Washington in this March 9, 1995 file photo. Reuters/Stringer/Files + American Mental Health Foundation | Rememebering Betty Ford American Mental Health Foundation A Century of Excellence in Mental Health Research by William Van Ornum, Ph.D. on July 9, 2011 10:02 am In the news: Betty Ford, former First Lady of the United States of America, has died. The much-beloved wife of President Gerald Ford died at the age of 93, as reported in the July 11, 2011, edition of The New York Daily News. Mrs. Ford was born in Chicago, reared in modest circumstances, became a dancer, and married Mr. Ford shortly after he returned from the Navy in World War II. She thought she was signing up for a life with a Midwestern lawyer.

Instead he chose politics and she was thrust into the role of a political wife, all the while rearing four children and trying to keep her own interests as well. Political life became difficult for Betty Ford, and she felt isolation and an emptiness inside from which she sought solace in alcohol and prescription pills. She was open about her addiction at a time when others were not. This courageous outlook gave others the encouragement either to seek help themselves or to be open about it with their families and communities. In 1982, she founded the Betty Ford Clinic (now Betty Ford Center ) in California. This nearly 200-bed program offers inpatient detox, follow-up and aftercare, an assessment program for pilots and professionals to diagnose and treat addiction problems, as well as other customized programs including one for young men and women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five who are financially dependent upon their parents. The New York Times reports: “The news of her death at Eisenhower Medical Center brought statements of condolence from President Obama, former Presidents George Bush, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, and Nancy Reagan, the former first lady. “She was Jerry Ford’s strength through some very difficult days in our country’s history,” Mrs.

Reagan said, “and I admired her courage in facing and sharing her personal struggles with all of us. “Few first ladies have been as popular as Betty Ford, and it was her frankness and lack of pretense that made her so. She spoke often in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, endorsed legalized abortion, discussed premarital sex and revealed that she intended to share a bed with her husband in the White House.” Betty Ford’s work lives on at the center she founded. Condolences go from AMHF to the entire Ford family. Share this: Betty Ford, Forthright and Inspirational First Lady, Dies at 93 - The New York Times The New York Times Politics |Betty Ford, Former First Lady, Dies at 93 Search Continue reading the main story Photo Former President Gerald R. Ford embraced the former first lady, Betty Ford, at the White House Oval Office in 1974. Credit White House Photograph courtesy of Gerald R. Ford Library Betty Ford, the outspoken and much-admired wife of President Gerald R. Ford who overcame alcoholism and an addiction to pills and helped found one of the best-known rehabilitation centers in the nation, died Friday in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

She was 93. Her death was confirmed by Chris Chase, Mrs. Ford’s biographer. The news of her death at Eisenhower Medical Center brought statements of condolence from President Obama, former Presidents George Bush, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, and Nancy Reagan, the former first lady. “She was Jerry Ford’s strength through some very difficult days in our country’s history,” Mrs. Reagan said, “and I admired her courage in facing and sharing her personal struggles with all of us.” Few first ladies have been as popular as Betty Ford, and it was her frankness and lack of pretense that made her so. She spoke often in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, endorsed legalized abortion, discussed premarital sex and revealed that she intended to share a bed with her husband in the White House. Continue reading the main story When her husband’s voice failed him the morning after he was defeated by Jimmy Carter in 1976, it was she who read the official concession statement with smiling grace. And when Mr. Ford died in December 2006, it was Mrs. Ford who announced his death.

The six days of national mourning returned her to a spotlight she had tried to avoid in her later years, living in Rancho Mirage, Calif., a golf community southeast of Palm Springs, and tending to her clinic there, the Betty Ford Center. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The country’s affection for Betty Ford transcended party lines. It began in earnest slightly more than two months after Gerald Ford became president in August 1974, following President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation over Watergate. Mr. Ford had been vice president for less than 10 months, named by Nixon to succeed Spiro T. Agnew, who had resigned in disgrace over accusations of bribery and tax evasion. On Sept. 28, 1974, Mrs. Ford had a radical mastectomy after doctors discovered cancer in her right breast. Courage Against Cancer Within days, 10,000 letters, more than 500 telephone calls, more than 200 telegrams and scores of floral arrangements poured into the White House and into her suite at Bethesda Naval Hospital. In the months that followed, tens of thousands of American women, inspired by Mrs.

Ford’s forthrightness and courage in facing her illness, crowded into doctors’ offices and clinics for breast-cancer examinations. After leaving the hospital, Mrs. Ford underwent chemotherapy treatment for two years. In November 1976, her physician announced that she had made a complete recovery. Mrs. Ford was once asked if she felt sorry for herself during the trauma of losing her breast. “No! Oh, no — heavens, no,” she replied. “I’ve heard women say they’d rather lose their right arm, and I can’t imagine it. It’s so stupid. I can even wear my evening clothes.” She advised women facing such an operation to “go as quickly as possible and get it done.” “Once it’s done,” she said, “put it behind you and go on with your life.” Breast cancer was only one of the medical battles Mrs. Ford won. Confronting Addiction Her dependency on pills began in 1964 with a medical prescription to relieve constant pain from a neck injury and a pinched nerve. Her drinking, which became troublesome as she was faced with her husband’s frequent absences on political business, grew increasingly serious as Mr. Ford’s Congressional career advanced.

Her loneliness was compounded by low self-esteem and a debilitating self-consciousness about things like her lack of a college degree. “Now I know that some of the pain I was trying to wipe out was emotional,” she recalled in “Betty: A Glad Awakening” (1987), the second volume of her autobiography written with Ms. Chase. Going back to the days when her husband was a Michigan congressman and minority leader in the House of Representatives, she remembered that “on one hand, I loved being ‘the wife of’; on the other hand, I was convinced that the more important Jerry became, the less important I became.” In 1978, the year after leaving the White House, her husband, children, doctors and several friends confronted her about her drinking and her abuse of pills. She refused to acknowledge that a problem existed, calling her family “a bunch of monsters,” but she eventually entered the Long Beach Naval Hospital in California for treatment. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The Betty Ford Center, dedicated on Oct. 3, 1982, was a direct result of Mrs. Ford’s victory over her alcoholism and addiction.

Set on 14 acres on the campus of the Eisenhower Medical Center 11 miles southeast of Palm Springs, the center was a nonprofit venture spearheaded by Mrs. Ford and Leonard K. Firestone, an industrialist and former ambassador to Belgium who raised a major part of the money. The center’s philosophy, drawn from the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, is based on peer interaction and learning to identify and express feelings. Many celebrities, including Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Mary Tyler Moore, Mickey Mantle and Darryl Strawberry, spent time there. “It’s hard to make anyone understand what it’s like to have your name on something, to be given credit for things you haven’t done,” Mrs. Ford wrote. “I’ve been at meetings where someone turned and thanked me, and I hugged the person and said, ‘Don’t thank me, thank yourself, you’re the one who did it, with God’s help.’ From the beginning, we have wanted every patient at the center to feel, ‘I’m important here, I have some dignity.’ ” Betty Ford was good at doing the things that every first lady does: accompanying her husband on tours and public ceremonies and holding dinners and parties.

Her parties usually lasted past midnight as she danced from one partner to another. But unlike many other wives of presidents, Mrs. Ford rarely hesitated to make public her views on touchy subjects. She held a White House news conference announcing her support of the Equal Rights Amendment; the mail response ran three to one against her. In 1975, appearing on “60 Minutes,” she said she “wouldn’t be surprised” if her daughter, Susan, had a premarital affair; the mail was four to one against her. Her husband jokingly told her later that the comment had cost him 20 million votes in the 1976 election, she said. A decade later, reminiscing with Margaret Truman for Ms. Truman’s book “First Ladies,” she voiced regret over that television appearance. Later that year, despite her advocacy for abortion rights, she reined herself in. She said nothing about the Republican platform that called for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. She also told Ms. Truman that she had warned her husband not to pardon Nixon, a more definitive statement than one she made in “The Times of My Life” (1978), the first volume of Mrs. Ford’s autobiography.

In that book she said she had known that a pardon would be unpopular but that she had supported it anyway. Photo Betty Ford and former President Gerald R. Ford at the White House in 1977. Credit Eddie Adams/Associated Press “I think it had to be done,” she wrote. Nevertheless, she said, she believed it cost her husband the election. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Mrs. Ford said she had been influential in President Ford’s appointments of Carla Hills as secretary of housing and urban development and Anne Armstrong as ambassador to Britain. She was unsuccessful, however, in urging him to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court. She was, in her own words, “more of a hawk” than her children on the war in Vietnam. Although she said she believed men and women should give two years of service to the country, she confessed she was “very relieved” when her sons drew high draft-lottery numbers. A Relaxed White House Mrs. Ford brought a relaxed touch to the White House within days of moving in. She asked why the staff never returned a greeting and was told that President Nixon and the first lady, Pat Nixon, had preferred them to be as silent and invisible as possible.

An immediate change went into effect, to the degree that during family meals the president and the butler compared golf scores. And when Mrs. Ford returned from her mastectomy, the staff lined up with signs reading, “We love you, Betty.” She disliked other manifestations of Mrs. Nixon’s formal tastes, particularly the choice of stiff furniture, which had replaced the more comfortable Kennedy ambience from the early ’60s. Although she left the décor as it was, she could not resist a bit of deviltry. A ceramic bowl in the Yellow Oval Room was supported by two Greek goddesses, one of them with her hands out. “Every time I went through,” Mrs. Ford said, “I used to put a cigarette between her fingers.” Her mischievous side also surfaced after her husband complained that she was too thin. Borrowing a skeleton from a hospital, she dressed it in her hat and coat and sat it in a bedroom chair to welcome him. Later, when she was no longer first lady, she was criticized in some circles for having a facelift almost immediately after overcoming her addictions. She wanted, she said, a fresh new face for her new life.

She later thought that some of the resentment stemmed from the fact that she could no longer be perceived as a victim — of cancer, drugs and drink. “It was easier to be sorry for me, to feel superior to me, and therefore to root for me,” she said. “We all like to cheer an underdog. But I’d stopped being an underdog; I’d gotten myself in hand.” Elizabeth Anne Bloomer was born on April 8, 1918, in Chicago to William S. Bloomer and the former Hortense Neahr. She always wanted to be called Elizabeth but ended up with Betty, Bet or Bets. She was the youngest child and the only girl in a family of three children. Her father was a traveling salesman in conveyor belts for factories. The family moved to Grand Rapids, Mich., when she was 2. The Bloomers were financially comfortable, lived in a fashionable area and spent summers at Whitefish Lake. She began dancing lessons when she was 8, and for two summers after graduation from high school she attended Bennington School of the Dance at Bennington College in Vermont.

At 14, she was confirmed as an Episcopalian (her mother’s religion; her father was a Christian Scientist) and began working on Saturdays, for $3, as a model for Herpolsheimer’s department store. At 20, she was in New York, living on the fringes of Greenwich Village and attending dance classes with Martha Graham. She also joined her troupe. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Dance was always a major interest, and Mrs. Ford said many times that she was disappointed that she had never been quite good enough to be a first-rate dancer. When she went to China with her husband in 1975, however, she enchanted the Chinese by kicking off her shoes and dancing in her stocking feet at a Beijing school. Her mother persuaded her to return to Grand Rapids in 1941, but not before she had modeled on Seventh Avenue and for the John Robert Powers modeling agency. Back home, she became a fashion coordinator for the store in which she had been a teenage model. In her spare time, she taught dance to underprivileged and disabled children. The following year, she married William C. Warren, a furniture dealer.

The marriage ended in divorce in 1947, and she did not ask for alimony. When Mr. Ford became vice president and his wife’s first marriage was disclosed, Mrs. Ford was asked why she had kept it a secret. She hadn’t, she said: “No one ever bothered to ask.” Some months after her divorce, she began dating Gerald R. Ford, a lawyer with political ambitions and a man she described as “probably the most eligible bachelor in Grand Rapids.” He proposed in February 1948. “He’s a very shy man and he really didn’t tell me he loved me,” she wrote. “He just told me he’d like to marry me — I took him up on it immediately.” They were married on Oct. 15, 1948, while he was running his first race for a seat in the House. The ceremony took place on a Friday so that Mr. Ford’s plans to go to a Northwestern-Michigan football game the following day would not be disrupted. (He had played center for Michigan.) The groom was 35; the bride, 30. They spent their two-day honeymoon at Republican Party rallies. Mr. Ford won the election.

“We came to Washington for 2 years and stayed for 28,” Mrs. Ford said. Their first son, Michael, was born in 1950 while the Fords lived in an apartment in Georgetown. By 1952, when John, known as Jack, was born, they had moved to an apartment in suburban Northern Virginia. Steven was born in 1956, a year after the Fords’ split-level house in Alexandria, Va., was completed. Susan, their only daughter, came along the next year. “From the outside, our life looked like a Norman Rockwell illustration,” Mrs. Ford said at one point. Nevertheless, by 1962, she was seeing a psychiatrist twice a week because, as she put it, “I’d lost my feeling of self-worth.” “I think a lot of women go through this,” she said. “Their husbands have fascinating jobs, their children start to turn into independent people and the women begin to feel useless, empty.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Later, when she accompanied her husband on campaign trips more frequently, she acknowledged that that, too, was not all fun.

At one point, she recalled, she was in an airport and “through clenched teeth said: ‘I don’t want anyone to come over and talk to me. I just want to sit here all alone and finish this cigarette.’ ” Shortly after leaving the White House, the Fords built a 15-room house bordering the 13th fairway of the Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage. The couple also acquired a second home, an elaborate ski lodge in Vail, Colo. Mrs. Ford remained active in the Betty Ford Center and in feminist causes. In addition to her four children, she is also survived by seven grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. “I am an ordinary woman who was called onstage at an extraordinary time,” she wrote in the prologue to her first autobiography. “I was no different once I became first lady than I had been before. But through an accident of history, I had become interesting to people.” Correction: July 12, 2011 An obituary on Saturday about the former first lady Betty Ford misidentified the California city in which she died. It was Rancho Mirage, not Palm Springs.

An accompanying picture caption, using information from Agence France Press — Getty Images, misidentified the honor given jointly to the Fords in 1999. They were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, not the “Medal of Honor.” A version of this article appears in print on July 9, 2011, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: A First Lady Who Struggled And Inspired. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

Question: Which former US First Lady died in July 2011 at the age of 93?
Answer: BETTY FORD