Lady Bird Johnson, 1912-2007Lady Bird will be remembered as a First Lady who gave with a generous spirit and brought America a renewed appreciation for our nation's natural beauty.
Time Magazine
July 11, 2007
...At 94, fragile, her eyesight diminished by macular degeneration, a cruelty for a woman whose joy in life came from watching the birds and the flowers of her beloved Texas Hill Country, former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson passed away at her home in Austin from natural causes. A few weeks earlier, she had been admitted to a hospital for tests after suffering from what a family member said was a low-grade fever.
As first lady, Lady Bird created a legacy through her passion for what the press called "beautification" and the legislation it produced. She had the billboards and junk yards banished from the federal highway rights-of-way; and she inspired the carpets of daffodils and tulips that delight tourists who come to the nation's Capital. She was more than a gardener. She was one of the first true environmentalists of our times. Even LBJ liked the idea, complaining proudly one day that he had a hell of a time taking a nap because Lady Bird and Laurence Rockefeller and a bunch of other beautification folks down below his bedroom were holding a meeting and talking loud and he could not go to sleep. "She's going to beautify us right out of existence," he said.
Lady Bird never liked the term "beautification." What she was doing went beyond that, something to hold the land, bring grace and meaning to scarred lives. "You reporters come up with another word," she used to say. But nobody has yet. Maybe it was unnecessary because she was her own symbol, a woman very much in harmony with the natural world around her. She rafted down rivers, camped out in the national parks, studied ruins. She also founded what is now named the Lady Bird Johnson Wild Flower Center at the University of Texas.
Thank you Lady Bird! You were first class all the way!
Texas Blue Bonnets
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