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 Birthsite and Gardens her parents and moved in with them in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the future president grew up. By the end of 1913 Dorothy's divorce from Leslie King was final. In 1916, Dorothy married Gerald Rudolff Ford. They renamed Leslie, Jr. after him, as Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr. The future president was never formally adopted, however, and he did not legally change his name until 1935; he also used a more conventional spelling of his middle name (Rudolph). Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens The Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens in Omaha, Nebraska marks the location of the house at