AUSTIN, Texas — Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who championed conservation and worked tenaciously for the political career of her husband, Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday, a family spokeswoman said. She was 94.
Johnson, who suffered a stroke in 2002 that affected her ability to speak, returned home late last month after a week at Seton Medical Center, where she'd been admitted for a low-grade fever.
She died at her Austin home of natural causes and she was surrounded by family members and friends, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Christian.
Even after the stroke, Johnson still managed to make occasional public appearances and get outdoors to enjoy her beloved wildflowers. But she was unable to speak more than a few short phrases, and more recently did not speak at all, Anne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the LBJ Library and Museum, said in 2006. She communicated her thoughts and needs by writing, Wheeler said.
People are also reading…
Lyndon Johnson died in 1973, four years after the Johnsons left the White House.
The longest-living first lady in history was Bess Truman, who was 97 when she died in 1982.
Bush and first lady Laura Bush remembered Mrs. Johnson as a "warm and gracious woman."
"President Johnson once called her a woman of ideals, principles, intelligence, and refinement. She remained so throughout their life together, and in the many years given to her afterward," Bush said.
Other former first ladies remembered Johnson on Wednesday as deeply devoted to her family and the environment.
"Her beautification programs benefited the entire nation. She translated her love for the land and the environment into a lifetime of achievement," Betty Ford said.
Nancy Reagan said that when Lyndon Johnson was called upon to take the oath of office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, "he did so with his courageous wife beside him."
"I believe above all else that Lady Bird will always be remembered as a loyal and devoted wife, a loving and caring mother and a proud and nurturing grandmother," Reagan said.
The daughter of a Texas rancher, she spent 34 years in Washington, as the wife of a congressional secretary, U.S. representative, senator, vice president and president. The couple had two daughters, Lynda Bird, born in 1944, and Luci Baines, born in 1947.
She was born Claudia Alta Taylor, and received her nickname in infancy from a caretaker nurse who said she was as "pretty as a lady bird." It was the name by which the world would come to know her. She disliked it, but said later, "I made my peace with it."
The couple returned to Texas after the presidency, and Lady Bird Johnson lived for more than 30 years in and near Austin.
"I think we all love seeing those we love loved well, and Austin has loved my mother very well. This community has been so caring," Luci Baines Johnson said in an interview in December 2001.
Former President George H.W. Bush once recalled that when he was a freshman Republican congressman in the 1960s, Lady Bird Johnson and the president welcomed him to Washington with kindness, despite their political differences.
"Like all Americans, but especially those of us who call Texas home, we loved Lady Bird," Bush said Wednesday.
As first lady, she was perhaps best known as the determined environmentalist who wanted roadside billboards and junkyards replaced with trees and wildflowers. The $320 million Highway Beautification Bill, passed in 1965, was known as "The Lady Bird Bill," and she made speeches and lobbied Congress to win its passage.
did you know ...
Lady Bird Johnson made several trips to Arizona, including in September 1966 when the first lady dedicated the Glen Canyon Dam in Page.
She came to Tucson in February 1970 as a member of the Advisory Board on National Parks, Monuments and Historic Sites. The former first lady spent her time touring Saguaro National Monument and expressed concern for the plight of the giant cactus. She also visited the Sonoita area and the missions at Tumacacori and San Xavier during her two-day stay in the area.
Star archives
