Lady Bird Johnson — 1912-2007
I have been strangely touched by the passing of Lady Bird Johnson, and I’m not sure why that is. Certainly she deserves all the accolades that are being heaped upon her by the press and those who knew her. She was a remarkable woman who made a significant and lasting impression upon our nation, but while the Johnson era covers a large part of my own history, that’s not what I think of when you mention Lady Bird.
I benefit from the beauty of the wildflowers along our Texas highways, and while I don’t go there often, Town Lake is a remarkable part of what makes Austin unique, as is the Wildflower Center I’ve never been to. No, that’s not what touches me.
I know that the media prepares in advance and stockpiles obituaries and in-depth articles and edits hours of film and photos long before there is even a hint of the passing of some important person, and there has been more than a hint as Mrs. Johnson’s health has declined rapidly in the past couple of years, so it was not surprising that on the evening of her death all the TV stations could air hours of retrospective and analysis of her life.
The last couple of mornings I have taken Mom to her class at AGST, and I return by way of the upper deck of I35. From there you can see the LBJ Library and get glimpses of the parking lot which is full – absolutely full – of TV news vehicles, antennae pointed skyward. You can’t see the people who have been in line since early this morning, waiting to pay their respects. Somehow I think I should be doing that.
I saw Mrs. Johnson only once, at a ceremony at the LBJ Library when the Postal Service issued a stamp for the late President. The only thing I really remember from that occasion is the Secret Service agents – the guys looking at you, and not at her. So I really have no idea why her death is so touching to me personally.
I just know it is.
Posts
2 comments:
I have had some of the same feelings, although without ever having seen her. I felt that way when Barbara Jordan passed away, too. Something very iconic about both of them in very positive ways, which I think probably serves as a contrast to some of the things we see from public figures today. I wonder if Luke and Grace will think some of the same things about Hillary Clinton or Laura Bush or someone else like them. I have my doubts, but I wonder if I would have said the same thing about LaBJ at the time.
Perhaps it is in some way like Grandmother's catfish. I have commented often about not being able to find catfish as good as grandmother's when it was cooked just hours out of the lake. Now that I am older, I wonder if the fish was that good or just the memory was better.
Generations, generations, generations.
Part of what makes young people feel invincible is the notion that so many older folks have to depart this life before it will be their turn. Obviously, this is a faulty assumption on their part, but somehow it comforts us to know that others stand between us and the end of life.
As the people who were influential in the making of our generation pass on, we see the approaching end of our generation and our own life with greater clarity.
Perhaps the death of Lady Bird creates a sense of nostalgia for a time that is long past, for a time when the future stretched before us with unlimited possibilties.
Post a Comment