When Nancy Reagan died in March, at 94, she was buried next to her husband at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., the fulfillment of her final wish.
Now there’s an effort to have the former first couple together symbolically in Washington.
Georgia Rep. Jody Hice has proposed renaming a small park adjacent to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after Nancy Reagan. Gravelly Point Park, a haven for picnickers and airplane watchers, would be renamed Nancy Reagan Memorial Park.
While there are a handful of buildings and facilities named for Ronald Reagan in the Washington area, this would be the first named just for his wife.
Hice’s effort is backed by the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project headed by Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist, who championed the renaming of Washington’s airport. The project has established a petition to win support for Hice’s bill.
“This is an exciting and important project,” Norquist told Secrets. “Nancy and Ronald Reagan are next to each other on the East Coast as well as the West Coast,” he added.
“Nancy Reagan was a force of grace, elegance, and tenacity. Her devotion to her husband made her a formidable confidante and one of the most influential presidential wives in modern history,” Hice told Secrets.
He said that given the proximity of Gravelly Point Park to Reagan airport, renaming it as the Nancy Reagan Memorial Park “would be just one way we, as a Nation, can pay homage her life and legacy…as first lady, Nancy Reagan understood public service was a noble duty, and she accomplished that job by touching our communities with a gentle hand. I am honored to introduce legislation that would remember her for her service to our nation.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
