America's 38th President, Gerald Ford lay in repose at St. Magaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, CA beginning late afternoon on Friday, 12-29-06 and through the morning of Saturday, 12-30-06, when the casket was taken to Palm Springs Airport and placed on a Boeing 747 from the Presidential fleet for its trip to Washington, DC. We visited St. Margaret's late-night Friday, December 29, 2006.
As we live in the Coachella Valley, Ford was a powerful presence here. His home in Rancho Mirage was only about 1/2 mile from the Eisenhower Medical Center, where he received physical therapy on a regular basis until recently. The Betty Ford Center for drug and alcohol rehabilitation is on the same grounds as the Eisenhower Center.
As my health is not perfect, I am a moderately-frequent visitor to 'Eisenhower', as it's known locally, and saw the ex-President there several times, the most recent occasion being about a year ago. He was driven to the hospital (and around the Valley) in a very ordinary-appearing Lincoln Town Car. No motorcycle escort, no police 'lead' or 'chase' cars, no helicopter circling above, no lights or sirens, no blocked intersections ... no 'pomp and circumstance' whatsoever, like the man himself.
His security consisted of two Secret Service agents, both very young (the times I saw them --- possibly working on this detail was training for young agents for future 'Protective Intelligence' assignments). Their only give-away were the backpacks they wore and, of course, the unobtrusive earpieces. And who would they be talking to, I always wondered -- They're both here! --- But obviously there was a "base" of some sort at Ford's nearby home. Also, the Secret Service and Homeland Security Headquarters communications bases in Washington, DC, are said to be in-touch with every agent around the world providing any kind of in-field Protective Intelligence.
A C5 Galaxy Air Force transport plane came into Palm Springs on Thursday morning, 12-28-06. The Galaxy, and in fact all the airplanes and cars and trucks associated with the movement of the President's casket and his family and other VIPs, are all well-known sights in the area because of its popularity with Presidents and other world dignitaries. In fact, President Bush was "in-town" only a few months ago, and during that visit he saw Gerald and Betty Ford at their home.
That C5 hauled the funeral hearse (a nice-looking Cadillac), a number of Secret Service vehicles 
including those used as "War Wagons", which are loaded with agents protecting the "VIP" vehicle(s) fore and aft, the communications equipment and four-wheel drive full-size van which holds it for the Secret Service, and various other "special" cars and trucks. Some of you may have noticed that the hearse used in Washington, DC to transport the President's remains, was actually the very same one used in Palm Desert less than 24 hours before.
At my age, seeing all those vehicles here at 11pm on a Friday night and then watching the very same ones on TV on the other side of the country less than a day later remains a bit strange, interesting and, frankly, exciting.
Almost mystically, as Ford's casket was being moved from the hearse into St. Margaret's, the Presidential Fleet 747 which would bear his body back to DC the next day was flying high overhead, heading for the Palm Springs Airport just a few miles away. It was clearly visible to everyone in the area.
So all the on-the-road accoutrements which go with a Presidential-level visit are "par for the course" here in golf-crazy Palm Springs and surrounding environs. The Ford compound in Rancho Mirage is about 10 miles from Palm Springs. The modest home (certainly modest by Rancho Mirage standards) has a guest-house which the President used as an office, and that building was once reputedly owned by the mother of actress/singer/dancer Ginger Rogers. The home is on a fairway of the Thunderbird Country Club, but has its own separate, secure entrance leading directly to a main street in the area.
The visits to the church were coordinated by the military and Secret Service with, to be honest, an almost-frightening and certainly intimidating (and meant to be) military precision. The main roadway in front of the church and the neighborhood around it were closed and secured with Presidential-level, tight-as-a-drum security from almost the minute the death was announced. Huge portable generators powering extremely bright lights were placed up and down the road for about a mile in each direction from the church.
Remember that all these plans had been made literally years in advance, approved by President Ford and his family. No doubt the "powers that be" were aware of Ford's imminent passing, and when it ws officially announced, all the agencies were ready to snap into action.
The entire experience of taking the shuttle bus from the Indian Wells area to the church was akin to being 'transported' from the laid-back and friendly atmosphere of the desert directly into the center of a world-class military-secured event, like going to sleep in the desert with warm winds and smiles all around, and waking up inside the US Capitol with all its attendant military, pomp and circumstance.
Ever seen a police roadblock? The military, locals cops and sheriffs and the Secret Service set up these roadblocks ... And they looked pretty damn intimidating and functional. Water-filled plastic barriers lined "off-limits'" areas, Secret Service patrolled the surrounding neighborhood on a 24-hour basis, choppers flew above the usually quiet residential streets, and it all lent an air of seriousness and formality to about a one-square-mile piece of Palm Desert.
Visitors parked their cars about 5 miles from the church, at the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens, a place which those of you who watch tennis on TV might be familiar; At least one ATP 'major' is played there annually. The facility is also used for major concerts (Tom Petty and The Who were both there this past year) and other events.
After parking on the grass lots surrounding the Garden, visitors were directed through a gate where a few local sheriff's officers were positioned, giving everyone the 'quick once-over' and reminding everyone what was NOT allowed on the buses: Anything electronic, no purses, no water, no backpacks, no cell phones, cameras, audio or video devices ... In a word ... 'Nothing' allowed on the bus, outside clothes, wallet and keys. All visitors had metal-detector wands and 'pat downs' from Riverside County Sheriff's Deputies. No one we saw complained at all.
The buses were from all over the area; probably about 70 of them, from San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Riverside ... The Coachella Valley itself doesn't have the number of buses needed for such a major event.
Sidenote: I had to drive into and out of Los Angeles for business on Friday, and on the way back, 
passed about 30 of the Los Angeles buses, all driving in single-lane 'motorcade' fashion on the I-10 Freeway, headed for Indian Wells. It was kind of exciting even to see that!
The bus ride took about 10 minutes, and all local roadways had been closed with police at each intersection to provide a smooth flow of visitors into the buses and headed toward the church.
Exiting the buses, visitors found themselves at the very front of the church. The lobby area contained a large, very lifelike portrait of the ex-President, and a small display of Ford memorabilia. Church workers handed each attendee a card form the Ford family and a card from the church with a photo of Ford on one side and a prayer on the other. All very nice and thoughtful for the visitors (and after all, we are paying for all this).
In the church itself, there were three TV cameras which I saw (pool cameras and those from C-Span, I think) and a few Secret Service agents stationed about, and a few military members. The entire funeral had been officially designated a "National Security Event", just like the Super Bowl, a Presidential inauguration or the Fourth of July in New York City. Security inside the church was not overwhelming, but definitely enough to persuade anyone thinking of doing anything untoward ... to think twice, at least.
The casket was on top of a small platform. The casket was covered by an American flag. To the casket's right was displayed an American flag, to the left, the impressive and beautiful deep blue USA Presidential flag. The casket was surrounded by a member of one of each of the military services. Ramrod straight, powerful and effective-looking, they leant a surreal appearance to the event, an entirely unexpected tableau to find in a local church in Palm Desert, California, as if a part of the nation's capitol had been installed in the middle of California's lower desert.
Returning to the Tennis Garden from the church was smooth and uneventful; As people got off the buses, they were able to sign Visitor's Books for the Ford family. Another nice, classy and elegant touch. Though people were quiet on the bus ride both ways, everyone seemed very pleased that they had taken the time to make this short journey. The atmosphere was not party-like, but somewhat light-hearted, reflecting the fact that Ford's death was certainly no shock at age 93, but it was still important to pay respects. Abraham Lincoln's funeral train took two months to go from Union Station in Washington, DC to his home in Illinois. That was the first time the American public had any chance to participate in a Presidential memorial, with the President's casket in attendance. The point is, not many people have ever had the opportunity to take part such an event, and certainly if it happens in your town, one should definitely go.
I joked with Carey when we got home that we should put the funeral cards which had been handed-out at the church on Ebay to see what we could get ... She laughingly agreed ... So imagine our surprise when we logged onto Ebay only about 8 hours after these cards were first available to the public to see several already online and for sale! Sheesh! I guess nothing is sacred, after all!
We figured the cards-for-sale might have come from journalists in-town for the services and got them in their Media Kits ... Or from some people associated with the church ... or from visitors like us! Anyway, we'll sell one of ours for $200 with my autograph and for $300 without (Hey it's a joke! Calm down! They ain't for sale!).
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