Thousands of Michiganders pay final respects to Ford

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Gerald R. Ford was buried on Wednesday on a grassy hill beside the rushing waters of the Grand River as the sun set, a final farewell in a week of remembrances for the nation's 38th president.

Though Ford had lived elsewhere for decades, Grand Rapids made it clear that it still considered this his true home and that it still considered him one of its most beloved, famous — and yet ordinary — men.

In a city of 195,000 residents, some 57,000 waited since Tuesday evening in a line that wound through two miles of downtown to walk silently past Ford's coffin inside his presidential museum, steps from where he would be buried.

In temperatures that dipped into the low 30s, some people cheerfully waited six hours, deep into the night and morning, for a minute or two beside the former president, who died Dec. 26 at age 93.

"We needed to be here — this is how we feel about him here," Mary Castro said shortly before 3 a.m. Wednesday, still waiting to reach the museum after four hours in line. A family, carrying a 2-year-old in blankets beside her, nodded.

"He was an everyday, down-to-earth guy, so accessible, not one of these politicians nowadays who needs all sorts of bodyguards," said Castro, 62, of suburban Comstock Park. "And he understood the importance of forgiveness."

If the nation remembered Ford for his sudden arrival as president in 1974 in the midst of turmoil over the Watergate scandal and for his decision to pardon former President Richard M. Nixon, Grand Rapids' memory was utterly different. Here, he was the boy who grew up on these streets, who played football for South High School, who became an Eagle Scout and who this region sent to the House of Representatives from 1949 until the 1970s.

He had taken the time to speak to elementary school government classes, to write birthday cards, to present crowns to homecoming queens. He was, some said, a perfect reflection of what people here are about.

"He was one of us," said Dwayne Hiljer, 69 and a retired salesman who drove three hours from his home near Detroit. "I've been around for presidents since Roosevelt, and this is the only one that was always totally honest with you."

Even after Ford's body was driven away from the museum — the lines cut short when time ran out — Grand Rapids followed him. Residents lined the streets, Boy Scouts in uniforms (and no coats) saluting, as his hearse and motorcade led the way to a final funeral service. The city gathered again along the bridges and the roofs of downtown buildings at dusk when the burial service began.