Laura Bush to address funeral for former US first lady Johnson

AUSTIN (AFP) - Two former US presidents and five first ladies were due to pay tribute to Lady Bird Johnson, remembered for her environmental advocacy and a knack for calming her restless husband, former president Lyndon Johnson.

The widow of the former US leader died Wednesday at the age of 94.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were scheduled to attend her funeral in Austin Saturday, as were First Lady Laura Bush and four of her predecessors at the White House: Senator Hillary Clinton, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan and Rosalynn Carter.

Overnight more than 10,000 people filed into the LBJ Library and Museum to pay tribute to Mrs. Johnson, lying in repose at the exact spot where her husband's body lay in state 34 years earlier, officials said.

Harry Middleton, the former library director, said the public outpouring of sympathy underscored the former first lady's enduring legacy.

During the turbulent years of the Johnson Administration, 1963-1969, Lady Bird Johnson provided private but crucial help to her husband.

She also championed efforts to clean up roadsides and beautify public spaces which she continued long after leaving the White House.

"She lit a fire in this country that has never gone out,'" Middleton said, quoting a former White House official in an advance copy of his eulogy. The funeral was scheduled to begin at 1900 GMT.

A funeral cortege will carry Lady Bird Johnson, nee Claudia Alta Taylor, on Sunday from Austin to the LBJ ranch, where she will be buried alongsider her husband.