Former First Lady and Texas Intercolliegate Press Association Hall of Fame honoree, Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson died at her home Wednesday, July 11. She was 94.
Johnson was inducted into the TIPA Hall of Fame in 2004, headquartered at the Journalism Building on the Texas A&M University-Commerce campus. Her husband, former President Lyndon B. Johnson, was posthumously honored by the association the same year.
At an early age, a nursemaid said she was “as purty as a lady bird” – thereafter she became known to her family and friends as “Lady Bird.” Johnson graduated from Marshall High School and received a journalism degree from the University of Texas in 1934. She married LBJ in 1934 and became First Lady in 1963. She received the Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 1988.
In 1982, she founded the National Wildflower Research Center. She is the author of A White House Diary, a record of her activities kept during LBJ’s term as President of the United States.
Johnson, who had been in poor health for several years, died with daughters Lynda and Luci Baines by her side.
She was buried next to her husband at the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall.