Nancy and Ronald Reagan, inseparable in life, together again

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Nancy Reagan called her husband's presidential library "the shining city on the hill," using a phrase that President Ronald Reagan borrowed from history to describe his aspirations for the nation.

Inseparable in life, the pair were reunited today on that hilltop, side by side.

She was "just a beautiful lady," said John Sandoval, who with his wife, mother and infant daughter joined a crowd of more than 2,400 Thursday at the library to see the flower-draped casket.

"I think it was just the unity they shared through his governorship, through his presidency, that brought people together," Sandoval added.

Forecasters warned that Thursday's brilliant skies could be replaced by thunderstorms and wind. A tent was erected over the site of the service.

The sprawling, Spanish mission-style library is located between the Reagan's post-White House home in the upscale Bel Air section of Los Angeles and Rancho del Cielo, the "ranch in the sky" where the Reagans spent their leisure time, sometimes on horseback, in the rugged mountains near Santa Barbara.

The guest list for the funeral tells a story about their lives, which stretched from Hollywood's Golden Age to the California statehouse during Reagan's time as governor to Washington. Four of the five living first ladies and relatives of every president dating to John Kennedy were expected to attend.