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 R. Ford International Airport U.S. Air Force jet carried the remains of former President Gerald Ford to his namesake airport as part of funeral services culminating in burial at his Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids the next day. From April 2010 through October 2011, the airport was a focus city for Allegiant Air. Air Canada operated the airport's only international flights to Toronto Pearson International Airport from July 2008 until September 2013. It was the airline's second attempt at service between the two markets. Delta Air Lines operates Boeing 757-200 seasonally between Grand Rapids and Detroit during the summer, making it the largest aircraft