Things to do in Palm Springs When The President is Dead

Last night, The Wife and I were returning from a trip to one of this area’s gambling establishments where we’d just given back the winnings we’d made earlier in the week. As we approached the exit for The In-Laws house, there was a blinking sign on the highway:

SOUTH FOR GERALD FORD VISITATION

How many times in one’s life will you actually get to be part of a State Funeral? You have to figure that for the other living presidents, getting to their funerals will be problematic.

When Jimmy Carter goes, he’ll be laid out at the Palestinian Consulate. Not going there. George Bush the First? They’ll lay him out at the Saudi Arabian Embassy. Not going there either. For Bush the second, no one will care anything about him at that point, so I doubt we’ll even know when it happens.

Bill Clinton will clearly have his funeral at the Playboy Mansion. Going to that would be one of the all time great parties. However, The Wife would probably nix any chance of attending.

So, we headed south and parked at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. From there, we were told to leave all cell phones, purses and cameras in our cars. A line of about 20 minutes ended with us being wanded for metallic items. Municipal buses then transported us on the 20 minute drive to St. Margaret's Episcopal Church.

We were greeted at the church by a scout wearing a sash of merit badges. He directed us to the chapel where we were handed a card with a picture of President Ford and a summary of his career on the reverse and a prayer card from the church and the Ford family.

President Ford always struck me as a "what you see is what you get" man. Midwest typical, some might say. The church certainly seemed to fit a man with such a personality. It was very austere with a non-descript ceiling, lightly stained glass windows at the entrance. There were no religious statues or noticeable architecture. Just a simple place for people to worship.

We entered the chapel down the center isle. About 5 rows in, we were directed right, between the pews to the aisle.

On the pulpit was Ford's casket, draped in an American flag, rested on a black bier. There was a single lit candle burning behind the casket, three green wreaths with white flowers, and, to either side of he casket, the American and U.S. presidential flags.

The casket was guarded by five men in full dress uniform representing each branch of the military - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. While we were there, the guard was changed. The movements of the guard were made in tight precision in total silence.

We moved quickly to the front, also in total silence. We lingered for a moment at the front, about 10 feet from the casket. Then, we were out and heading back to the buses. When we returned to the Tennis Garden, we signed a condolence book. The Wife commented that there might not be a heck of a lot of signers from Glenview, Illinois. While that may be true, the signers before us were from Ontario, Canada. There are probably not that many signers from there, either.

This morning, we saw Air Force One fly overhead as it flew the president’s body and his family to Washington. That capped a remarkable experience, one which, I expect never to repeat.