About the Nancy Reagan Memorial and Funeral at REAGAN LIBRARY - Simi Valley, California March 11, 2016

from NY TIMES online article by Alessandra Stanley (March 10, 2016):

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — In death, Nancy Reagan is drawing the kind of public warmth and adulation that her husband received for much of his life.

"We love how much they loved each other,” Doris Baltgalvis, 69, said. She and her husband of 50 years, Marty, 70, traveled from Corona, Calif., on Wednesday to view Mrs. Reagan’s coffin at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library here. The couple keep a framed photograph of the Reagans in their study. Mr. Baltgalvis added, “The way they loved and respected and were loyal and faithful to each other projected into the way he ran the country.”Several thousand well-wishers who waited in a hot parking lot to board buses and pay their respects were not there just to celebrate the romance of Ron & Nancy. Republicans, especially older ones, also say they are in mourning for the dignity and class the Reagans brought to the White House, at least as it appears in memory and in comparison with a Republican primary campaign roiled by vulgarity, crudity and division.

Politicians, former heads of state, celebrities and a dwindling circle of old friends will gather on Friday for Mrs. Reagan’s funeral at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, a majestic send-off that Mrs. Reagan planned with her customary vigilance and concern for detail.

Mrs. Reagan, who died Sunday at 94, was lucid until the end, according to friends. “She was very engaged in the funeral planning,” said John Heubusch, the executive director of the Reagan foundation and library. “She wanted it to reflect well on his legacy.”

Mrs. Reagan was a behind-the-scenes operator, but her intense devotion to her husband was obvious and unwavering throughout his presidency and his long battle with Alzheimer’s. After he fell ill, Mrs. Reagan rarely left him to go out, but she proudly burnished their love story. (The Reagan Library website likens it to more ill-fated pairings, including Antony and Cleopatra and Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson.)

She published his charmingly and unapologetically mushy, over-the-top love letters, and a few are on permanent display at the library, as are Air Force One and their favorite table from Chasen’s restaurant.

Mrs. Reagan’s taste — and stagecraft — was just as evident after she died. The coffin, burnished mahogany topped with a mass of yellow and white peonies, freesia and roses, was laid out in the main hall of the library, in the same place where her husband’s coffin was on display in 2004.