Dignitaries Reflect on Former President Ford at Funeral

RAY SUAREZ:

On a bright, chilly and windy Washington morning, the flag-draped casket carrying the remains of former President Gerald Ford was escorted out of the U.S. Capitol.

President Ford died last Tuesday at 93. His body had lain in repose at the Capitol since Saturday.

The nine-member honor guard carrying the casket paused at the top of the steps, as blasts from a 21-gun salute rang from cannons on the grounds below.

The president's 88-year-old widow, Betty, and his four children watched as the casket descended the steps. The coffin was loaded into a hearse for a slow cross-town procession to the state funeral at Washington National Cathedral.

The motorcade of more than a dozen sport utility vehicles and limousines inched along Pennsylvania Avenue, the streets lined with white-gloved police officers and onlookers.

The procession passed the White House on a section of the avenue closed to vehicular traffic for a decade. The hearse slowed further.

Meanwhile, more than 3,000 guests already were seated inside the cathedral. In addition to President Bush and his wife, three living former presidents and their wives attended, as did former First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Members of the current Bush administration, present and past, also were on hand, as were several foreign dignitaries. Supreme Court justices and congressional leaders also filled the crowd.

BISHOP JOHN BRYSON CHANE, Washington:

With faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the body of our brother, Gerald, for burial. Let us pray with confidence to God, the giver of life, that he will raise him to perfection in the company of saints.

Deliver your servant, Gerald, O Sovereign Lord Christ, from all evil. Set him free from every bond, that he may rest with all your saints in the eternal habitations where, with the father and the Holy Spirit, you live and reign, one God forever and ever, amen.

RAY SUAREZ:

A military guard, drawn from all the branches of the service, carried the casket inside and down the long, center aisle, which measures more than 200 yards.

Throughout the eulogies at today's service, Gerald Ford was lauded for his role as the nation's healer following the Watergate scandal. The veteran Michigan congressman, of course, assumed the presidency after Richard Nixon resigned in August of 1974.