An activist first lady who succeeded on her own terms

A month later, Lyndon Johnson suffered a massive heart attack. It was a prelude to the one that took his life on Jan. 22, 1973. He was 64.

'A compelling love'

AFTER his death, his widow traveled widely and collected awards, including the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, in 1977 and a Congressional Gold Medal in 1988.

On her 70th birthday, in 1982, she created, with actress Helen Hayes, the National Wildflower Center with a donation of $125,000 and 60 acres near Austin. (It now encompasses nearly 280 acres and is part of the University of Texas.) Later renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, it is devoted to preserving and researching native American flora and, Johnson said, "to pay the rent on the space I've taken up in this world."

In her late 80s she swam 32 laps a day in the pool at the LBJ Ranch, where she continued to live after turning the ranch over to the public years earlier. In her last years, the colors and shapes of the wildflowers she loved would be blurred by macular degeneration, which left her legally blind. She was crippled by arthritis, and a series of strokes stole her speech.

She remained doggedly loyal to her husband's memory.

"Ours was a compelling love," she told biographer Russell. "Lyndon pushed me, he drove me, at times he even humiliated me, but he made me become someone bigger and better than I would have been."

The public will be allowed to pay final respects to Johnson from 1:15 p.m. Friday until 11 a.m. Saturday at the LBJ Library and Museum in Austin. A private funeral service will be later that day. On Sunday, a ceremonial cortege beginning at the state Capitol will carry her body to the Johnson family cemetery in Stonewall, Texas, where she will be buried next to her husband.

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elaine.woo@latimes.com