Death and state funeral of Gerald Ford grandchildren came to the museum that night and greeted mourners for several hours. Shortly after noon on January 3, Ford's body was removed from the museum and taken by motorcade to Grace Episcopal Church in East Grand Rapids, where a private funeral service was conducted Thousands of people lined the entire motorcade route to the church. During the service, eulogies were delivered by Donald Rumsfeld (President Ford's White House Chief of Staff and Secretary of Defense), former President Jimmy Carter, Richard Norton Smith (former Director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum and a close personal friend of
Gerald Brekke Gerald Brekke Gerald Wayne Brekke (September 1, 1922 – March 28, 2006) was a Minnesota politician and educator who ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 1976, Minnesota Secretary of State in 1978, and United States House of Representatives in 2000. He was Assistant Director of Special Projects in the Office of Overseas Dependent Education for the United States Department of Defense from 1974-1975, an appointment made by President Gerald Ford. Brekke was a Professor of Education at Gustavus Adolphus College from 1962 to 1987, where he taught thousands of students and established the Minnesota Student Teachers' Association. After