During the regular Saturday morning forum of Rainbow/PUSH, Jonathan Jackson, Rev. Jesse Jackson’s second oldest son, eulogized Lady Bird Johnson, who passed away on July 11 at the age of 94 from natural causes. Jackson talked about her grace, elegance and strong voice during the Civil Rights Movement. He pointed out that Mrs. Johnson was a very avid supporter of Eleanor Roosevelt and, like Mrs. Roosevelt, was outspoken and an important influence on her husband, President Lyndon Johnson.
Lady Bird Johnson was born Claudia Alta Taylor on Dec. 22, 1912 in Karnack, Texas. She was nicknamed “Lady Bird” by her African-American nurse, Alice Tittle, who stated the 2-year-old was as “purty as a lady bird.”
She married Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1934 and was First Lady of the United States from 1963-1969. The Johnsons had two daughters, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, born in 1944 and Luci Baines Johnson, born in 1947. President Johnson died in 1973.
Mrs. Johnson’s funeral was held last Saturday, July 14. The television media reporting some 1,800 people in attendance, including former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, First Lady Laura Bush and former first ladies Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Mrs. Johnson was buried on Sunday next to her husband in Stonewall, Texas.
-Delores McCain
