Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Current Events and Musings => News of the Day => Topic started by: MuffyBee on July 09, 2011, 07:16:02 AM



Title: Former First Lady Betty Ford dies at age 93 1918 -2011
Post by: MuffyBee on July 09, 2011, 07:16:02 AM
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-betty-ford-20110709,0,1332628.story
Betty Ford dies at 93; former first lady
July 9, 2011

Former First Lady Betty Ford, who captivated the nation with her unabashed candor and forthright discussion of her personal battles with breast cancer, prescription drug addiction and alcoholism, has died. She was 93.

Ford died Friday at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, according to Barbara Lewandrowski, a family representative. The cause was not given.
As wife of Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States and the only person to hold that office without first being elected vice president or president, she spent a brief, yet remarkable time as the nation's first lady. But after he left office and even after his death in 2006 at 93, she had considerable influence as founder of the widely emulated Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage for the treatment of chemical dependencies.
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Title: Re: Former First Lady Betty Ford dies at age 93 1918 -2011
Post by: MuffyBee on July 09, 2011, 07:20:52 AM
http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/former-first-lady-betty-ford-dies-at-93-1593283.html
Former first lady Betty Ford dies at 93
July 8, 2011

(http://www.statesman.com/multimedia/dynamic/00948/NYBF101_948301k.jpg)
FILE - 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 Photo/Doug Mills)

LOS ANGELES — Betty Ford, the former first lady whose triumph over drug and alcohol addiction became a beacon of hope for addicts and the inspiration for her Betty Ford Center in California, died at age 93, a family friend said late Friday.

Her death Friday was confirmed to The Associated Press by Marty Allen, chairman emeritus of the Ford Foundation. Family spokeswoman Barbara Lewandrowski said later that the former first lady died at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. Other details of her death were not immediately available.
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Title: Re: Former First Lady Betty Ford dies at age 93 1918 -2011
Post by: MuffyBee on July 13, 2011, 10:36:34 PM
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/14/us-betty-ford-service-idUSTRE76D08U20110714
Mourners welcome Betty Ford home to Grand Rapids
July 13, 2011

Somber citizens, some holding American flags, lined the streets and watched on Wednesday as a motorcade returned the body of former first lady Betty Ford to her western Michigan hometown.
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The former first lady's casket arrived at Gerald R. Ford International Airport from California on Wednesday evening. A motorcade of police motorcycles and cars preceded the hearse to the Gerald R. Ford Museum in downtown Grand Rapids.
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Ford, once dubbed the "fighting first lady" by Time magazine for her outspoken political views, was a vocal supporter of women's rights while her husband was president from 1974 to 1977.