Senator Olympia Snowe and Former President George H.W. Bush released statements Friday night following the death of former First Lady Betty Ford.Ford died Friday at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage in California. She was 93 years old.
Former President George H.W. Bush, who worked in the Ford Administration and summers in Kennebunkport, released this statement Friday evening: "Barbara and I loved Betty Ford very much. She was a wonderful wife and mother, a great friend and a courageous first lady. We were proud to know her. We were proud to call her a friend. We will miss her very much."
Betty Ford, whose husband, Gerald, died in December 2006, had undergone surgery for an undisclosed ailment in April 2007. During and after her years in the White House, 1974 to 1977, Mrs. Ford won acclaim for her candor, wit and courage as she fought breast cancer, severe arthritis and the twin addictions of drugs and alcohol. She also pressed for abortion rights and the Equal Rights Amendment.But it was her Betty Ford Center, a desert oasis that rescued celebrities and ordinary people from addiction, that made her famous in her own right. She was modest about that accomplishment.
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