Mourners from near and far bid farewell to Reagan

By Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - Scott Haymes had his $1,200 airline ticket. But to pay his respects to former President Reagan, he needed an excuse to get out of work.

``I told them a friend had passed away, and that's very true,'' said Haymes, a 33-year-old advertising consultant who flew in from Springfield, Mo. ``If they fire me, it'll be well worth it.''

Haymes was one of thousands and thousands of people from across the country paying their final respects to Reagan as his body lay in state at the Capitol. The ceremonies in Washington end Friday with his funeral and a national day of mourning.

People waited for three hours Thursday, standing in a line that snaked around the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol. But people began to wait Wednesday afternoon before Reagan's body arrived from California and was taken by a horse-drawn caisson to the Capitol.

Mourners came in suits and shorts, camouflage and dress blues. Some came alone, others with their children or friends. To stave off Washington's heat and humidity, they snatched up free water bottles passed out by the Red Cross and covered their heads with umbrellas, newspapers, even boxes.

Some were old enough to remember Franklin Roosevelt. Others were barely old enough to remember Bill Clinton.

One 18-year-old from Florida came because he believed he owed his life to Reagan. Ryan Osterblom of Indialantic was an infant in need of a liver transplant in 1985 when the president struck a deal with then-Rep. Bill Nelson: Nelson would give Reagan his vote on a bill, and Reagan would draw attention to the need for organ donations.

Reagan made a public plea for liver donations and sent his top health official to Ryan's bedside. Within two days of the visit, an infant's liver became available.

Osterblom said of seeing Reagan's casket Thursday: "After seeing that, I was speechless. I'm pretty upset about all this."

His mother, Karen, said: ``I cried like a baby.''

Reagan, at 93 the nation's longest-lived president, died Saturday. Earlier this week, more than 100,000 people viewed his body at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. After a ceremony at Washington National Cathedral on Friday, where President Bush will eulogize the nation's 40th president, Reagan's body will be flown back to California for burial at his presidential library.

U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Contricia Sellers-Ford said police expected about 150,000 mourners to pass through the Capitol Rotunda by Friday. She said no count would be released until the procession ends Friday morning.

The first in line was Carol Williams, of Chesterfield, Va. ``I actually thought when I got here I'd be the 1,000th in line,'' said Williams, 49, a business professor. ``We're going to be doing history. What an awesome prize to be able to say goodbye to the single most important historical figure of the last 100 years.''

Not everyone in line had been a Reagan supporter in the 1980s. In fact, Sarah Foley-Walls of Brookfield, Ill., remembered mostly quarreling with her father, a die-hard Reagan supporter, about whether he was good for the country.

"The only reason I know so much about his presidency is (from) arguing," said Foley-Walls, a film student at Columbia College in Chicago who was in line Thursday afternoon.

Now she feels more ambivalent about Reagan. But since she was in town visiting, she decided to stand in line - if nothing else, to pay her respects for her father's sake, she said.

Other folks in line overnight had other reasons for being there. As software engineer James Bak of Annandale, Va., explained at 2:24 a.m.: ``This was the only time I had.''

Wall Street trader Vince McCarthy hopped in his car at about 3:30 a.m. Thursday to drive to the nation's capital. The 54-year-old registered independent from Washington, N.J., admired Reagan's legacy, but felt something a little deeper.

``Aside from the politics, I would have loved to have dinner with him just once,'' a somber McCarthy said after he left the Capitol. ``He was a great president, a great father figure, a great raconteur.''

Dressed in buckskin and a headdress of golden eagle feathers, Glynn Crooks was hard to miss. The vice chairman of the Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Crooks, 52, said he was sent as an official representative of his reservation to honor the fallen president.

"President Reagan was a man of peace," said Crooks, of Prior Lake, Minn.

A group of Indiana college students turned the funeral into a modern road trip even though all of them were too young to remember him.

``Some people will wait in a long line to go to a concert to see their favorite band,'' said Angel Rivera, 22, chairman of Indiana University's College Republicans.

``This is better than a concert,'' said fellow student Matthew Franz, 20.Some mourners even took time out to pose with ``Today'' show host Katie Couric, who was stationed outside the rotunda. One woman talking on her cell phone yelled out, "Hi, Katie, I'm telling my husband I see you."

Once inside the Capitol rotunda, the mourners walked in a circle around the flag-draped casket. Some saluted. Some made the sign of the cross. Others put their hand over their heart.

Gary Cates and his son Brenton got two minutes in the rotunda after a three-hour wait, but they didn't mind.

``It was breathtaking,'' said Cates, 48, a state representative from West Chester, Ohio. ``I'm glad I had a chance to see it. I'm glad I took my son.''

(Contributing: GNS correspondents Erin Kelly, Ledyard King and Maureen Groppe)

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