A memorial is being held today in Palm Desert, California, for former First Lady Betty Ford, who passed away Friday at age 93. Her husband, President Gerald Ford, passed away in 2007. A most admirable woman, Mrs. Ford was best known for her down-to-earth honesty and candor, and for establishing the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and alcohol treatment. She freely and courageously spoke of her own problems with alcoholism and of the everyday problems associated with parenting three sons and a daughter. Pro-choice and a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, Mrs. Ford would find it hard to be accepted in today's Republican Party.
At her memorial today, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter was asked to be one of the eulogists, the Ford and Carter families having grown to be good friends over the past 30-plus years.
Unfortunately, they don't make them like Betty Ford anymore.
