As funeral plans come together for former first lady Nancy Reagan, who died Sunday at age 94, the National First Ladies’ Library in Canton just finished an exhibit that celebrates her life.
“As soon as people come in they will see it,” said Lucinda Frailly, director of education and special events coordinator for the facility at 205 Market Ave. S. in downtown Canton.
Michelle Gullion, archive director, on Monday filled and arranged the glass exhibit case with items that the center either bought or received as donations. The exhibit is just inside the library’s front doors.
“These are all presidential gifts,” Gullion said. “They were given by Nancy for various things.”
One item Gullion placed in the case is a White House china plate designed in “Reagan Red.”
“This little trinket box here, again, Reagan Red, they gave as gifts,” Gullion said.
There is also a small thimble.
“Her initials NDR are on that little thimble there, with the White House,” she said. “This is the only one that anybody even knows about. We got this at auction. ... Nobody seems to know anything about it. And we just got this.”
There also is a photograph of Nancy Reagan and a button commemorating her “Just Say No” anti-drug cause. Gullion included a letter written in 1987 involving a man who lost his son to a drug overdose.
“There are so many things I could not get in the case,” Gullion said, showing off family portrait photographs as well as ones that featured the former Hollywood actress’s movie career.
“This one is Donovan’s Brain. She starred in that,” Gullion said. “I just didn’t have room for all of these.”
The library collection includes films that the former first lady starred in that can be played in the facility’s theater.
“She won’t be forgotten,” Frailly said.
Frailly noted that she was a high school teacher in Navarre when Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti-drug message came out in the 1980s.
“It was just an off-the-cuff remark she made,” Frailly said.
As the message took on a life of its own, she “was tireless in just calling attention to that plague on kids,” Frailly said. “I realize now she did work tirelessly for it.”
The library will play a video tribute to Nancy Reagan in the facility’s theater. The film was prepared well ahead of time, with just the date of death needing to be added, Frailly said. The date was added Monday and the video readied for the public to view starting Tuesday.
The organization also just opened a new exhibit, Trials of the Campaign Trail, that examines how first ladies took part in their husbands’ bids for election and re-election. Blown-up photos of campaign buttons are prominently featured, including several that include Nancy Reagan — one says “Re-Elect Nancy. Just Say Yes.”
The library and nearby Saxton McKinley House museum are open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays. For more information, including hours, go to www.firstladies.org
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ. His stories can be found at www.ohio.com/writers/jim-mackinnon.