Nancy Reagan Joins Her "Ronnie," and America Mourns a President's Friend, Protector, Caregiver and Companion

Charlene Aaron : Mar 7, 2016
CBN News

Nancy Reagan to Rev Billy Graham: "I just want you to tell me that when I go, that Ronnie's going to be there waiting for me." Billy Graham's answer: "Oh, yes, absolutely, Nancy.'"

[CBN News] Tributes are pouring in for former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who passed away Sunday. (Screengrab via CBN News)

Mrs. Reagan, 94, died from congestive heart failure at her Bel-Air home.
 
Flags in the nation's capitol are now flying at half-staff and Republicans and Democrats alike praised the former first lady.
 
"She was one of the greatest first ladies... an extraordinary human being," former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
 
President Obama posted a photo and tweeted, "Our former First Lady re-defined the role in her time here."
 
Nancy Reagan will be laid to rest at the Reagan Presidential Library alongside her beloved late husband.
 
Outside the library, families are leaving flowers in tribute to one of America's most memorable and influential first ladies...
 
Ronald and Nancy Reagan's love story spanned more than 50 years. She often said her only mission was to back her "Ronnie" and strengthen his presidency.
 
She encouraged him to run for president in 1980 after his close loss to President Gerald Ford in 1976. Though initially he did not want to try again, she convinced him and he won in a landslide. (Screengrab via CBN News)
 
Once they were settled in the White House, she kept an eye out for his best interests.
 
"I'm a woman who loves her husband... and I make no apologies for looking out for his personal and political welfare," she once said.
 
Her time in the White House included some controversy, particularly when it was revealed that she turned to astrology to help plan the president's schedule.
 
In a 1989 appearance on The Tonight Show, she told Johnny Carson she thought it would protect her husband after the assassination attempt in 1981 nearly took his life.
 
"That all came out of the shooting," she said. "That would have been it."
 
But she said it didn't affect any major decisions.
 
In the final words of his last big speech, Ronald Reagan called on his wife to join him.
 
"Before I go, I would like to ask the person who has made my life's journey so meaningful, someone I have been so very proud of over the years, to join me—Nancy."
 
After revealing he had Alzheimer's Disease in a public letter in 1994, his wife became even more the protector of her husband's life and legacy, referring to the 10-year struggle with the disease as a "long goodbye." (Screengrab via CBN News)
 
When President Reagan died in 2004, his wife planned his funeral. A photograph of her kissing his coffin at the gravesite has touched many hearts.
 
She also told ABC's Diane Sawyer something the Rev. Billy Graham told her about the promise of seeing the love of her life again in Heaven.
 
"I just want you to tell me that when I go, that Ronnie's going to be there waiting for me," she said to Rev. Graham. "And he said, 'Oh, yes, absolutely, Nancy.'"