...to a great "lady" in every sense of the word! Also one of the first environmentally-conscious public figures; her Highway Beautification Program and campaign to save native wildflowers are true "living" legacies.

I recently read the second volume of Robert A. Caro's magisterial biography of LBJ, entitled MEANS OF ASCENT, and from that book I learned to loathe one man, Lyndon Johnson, whose signal accomplishments in civil rights and social justice are difficult to reconcile with his profound character flaws; to admire another, Coke Stephenson, who, for all the baggage of racism and reactionary ideology that came along with his frontier conservatism was, by all accounts, an outstanding, even heroic human being; and to hold in the very warmest regard one woman, Lady Bird Johnson, who, in spite of her paralyzing shyness and the outrageous abuse heaped upon her by her husband, was not only steadfast in her love and loyalty, but also took infinite pains to remake herself, agonizingly, into a successful businesswoman, canny politician, eloquent speaker, pioneering conservationist, important philanthropist, and accomplished public figure of the very first rank.

Gone but never forgotten.

The contract 707 that carried me back from Vietnam in 1971 was from a shell company (World Airways)in which Lady Bird was a stockholder.

Just like the stupid cow who is currently stinking up the White House as First Lady, you cast your eyes toward your stupid flower garden and a bunch of charities while your husband kept stuffing American soldiers into the Vietnam meat grinder.

Lady Bird, when you get down to Hell, be sure and make room for Laura Bush on the screw.

Several years ago, There was a push in Austin to rename Town Lake to Lady Bird Johnson Lake in her honor. This idea was scuttled when an editorial letter was published in the Austin American Statesman which said (paraphrasing) "Austin is a beautiful and dynamic city. It would be a shame and is unnecessary to rename Town Lake". The letters' author was Lady Bird Johnson.

She will be sadly missed.

She'll never have to read another word uttered by our cretin President or his handler,Cheney.