My older daughter and I visited the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on the weekend when it first opened at its current location in the 1990s. We were lucky enough to see Lady Bird strolling through the walkways. My daughter said, "Go up to her and say hello, and I'll take your picture." I said, "Um, I don't want to get shot or body slammed by her security detail." My daughter said, "Don't be silly." (This was long before 9/11.) So I walked up to Lady Bird and said something like "I just want to thank you for all you've done." She smiled and said, "Well, Honey, let me introduce you to the directuh." The director asked where I lived, and I said "Houston." It seemed to satisfy both of them greatly that I had come from outside Austin to see the center. I still have that wonderful photo and the memories.

Sent by Jamie Diamandopoulos | 4:34 PM ET | 07-12-2007

Listening to the remembrance of Lady Bird Johnson on NPR yesterday, I immediately thought of my time in an Austin kindergarden in the early 70s. As part of one of the annual pagents, my fellow classmates and I were dressed as bluebonnets and sang "The Eyes of Texas are Upon You." Now I wonder if dressing us all up as bluebonnets was a tribute to the former First Lady. At the very least, she made wildflowers part of the Texan identity and that's a wonderful thing.

Sent by Chanda Meek | 1:02 PM ET | 07-13-2007

Ketzel's observation reflects my reaction to the same Lady Bird quote. Texas as Texas and Vermont as Vermont - In a world increasingly dominated by strip malls and homoginized suburban sprawl the spots of unique color that nature provides become more important.
I too remember how Mres Johnson's call to beautify our world changed how I looked at the "weeds" alongside the roads. They became "native plants" and learning to enjoy they beauty has given years of pleasure. Thank you Lady Bird for that and so many other things. You made being a "lady" a goal worth striving for.

Sent by Jane Kratsch | 8:32 AM ET | 07-14-2007

Everyone, in their own way, can contribute to improving our planet as LadyBird did. I think the greatest tribute to her is to emulate her.

Sent by Jenny Rohan | 11:24 AM ET | 07-14-2007

As a small Pennsylvania child smitten with wildflowers, I was also smitten with Lady Bird the First Lady & kept a magazine photo of her in my room. As a graduate student in Texas, I spent many days and miles enjoying the roadside wildflowers (which are truly Texan & which I still miss)and volunteering considerable time working with native plants. I also realized a longtime dream of meeting Lady Bird, at a celebration of Blackland Tallgrass Prairie. I framed the Texas Monthly cover of Lady Bird in a long green gown standing in a field of bluebonnets - it hangs above my desk. Maybe now, as a resident of Heaven, Lady Bird can look down onto the roadside wildflower plantings in the Mid-Atlantic states, whisper into some angel's ear "... Texas to look like Texas, Vermont to look like Vermont, PA-MD-VA-WV to look like PA-MD-VA-WV", and talk that angel into tossing a few strategic lightning bolts at the folks who plant those "wildflower" mixtures with the neon red poppies & hot pink cosmos that NOBODY has ever seen in the real wild around here!

Sent by Patricia Miller | 12:40 PM ET | 07-14-2007

How wonderful that the rains in Texas brought a beautiful show of wildflowers this year for Mrs. Johnson. Texas looked like Texas! I enjoyed so much the NPR report on her life yesterday. We lost an intelligent and lovely woman. May she be an inspiration for women for many years to come.

Sent by Jenny Knight | 7:10 PM ET | 07-14-2007