Reagan Laid to Rest

The week-long ceremonies honoring Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, concluded on Friday with emotional ceremonies that appeared to be drawn from a Hollywood movie script. The moving eulogies in a raining Washington, D.C. gave way to a spectacular sunset interment ceremony at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. The final scene of Reagan's public life gave way to a private moment with his family.

Nancy Reagan, the former president's wife of over 52 years, provided many of the most stirring images throughout the week. Mrs. Reagan wept over the casket of her husband before being escorted by Army Major General Galen B. Jackman, Commander of the U.S. Military District of Washington, to an awaiting car. Reports say that the car remained at the entrance to the presidential library for some time before finally departing.

Ronald Reagan's 400-pound solid-mahogany casket was one of the last "Marsellus Masterpiece" caskets ever produced by Marsellus Casket Company. The 131-year-old Syracuse, New York-based company closed in 2003, but crafted the casket in advance to the Reagan family's exact wishes. This included a distinctive small, turned, solid-wood pilaster, or post, on the end of the casket.

The casket was completely hand made, with even the screws being put in by hand, and took about six months to make. The final polish required 16 hours of hand-rubbing to create its soft-glowing appearance. The interior of the casket was done in hand sewn beige velvet, and a small gold label on the exterior denotes the Marsellus name. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon were also buried in Marsellus caskets.

Following the private ceremony Reagan's casket was moved inside the library out of public view while the underground burial tomb was prepared. A small tent and artificial lights were erected as two gravediggers prepared the 8-foot-by-4-foot subterranean crypt. Reagan's casket was moved one final time and placed inside a 3,000-pound bronze burial vault with his head pointing toward the west. The Wilbert Bronze Triune Special No. 34 oversized burial vault was brought from Iowa earlier this week after having President Reagan's name engraved on the outside.

The task of carving Reagan's headstone, a Georgian gray granite slab, with the words "Ronald Wilson Reagan," along with his dates of birth and death, was given to 82-year-old Nathen Blackwell. The English-born stone carver had already produced several carvings throughout with the Reagan Presidential Library. Blackwell also carved a black granite presidential seal to replace a discolored bronze version on the outside of the 20-foot-wide, horseshoe-shaped memorial site. The headstone was stored in the library basement before being set into place just before dawn on Saturday.

Following her own passing, Nancy Reagan will also be placed next to her beloved husband inside the crypt. It is then expected that the curved limestone walls will be encased with granite of tans and browns to protect against deterioration. Perhaps Nathen Blackwell will be called on again to re-carve the quotation Reagan made in 1991 when the library opened: "I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life."