$100,000-a-Couple Tab : President, Wife Attend Fund-Raiser for Library

The President and Mrs. Reagan flew to the brownish green hills of Coto de Caza in south Orange County Monday to attend a $100,000-a-couple fund-raiser for his proposed $60-million presidential library in Ventura County.

The event, in a covered outdoor area at the new home of developer William Lyon, attracted about 15 paying couples and another 20 to 30 guests for a lunch of iced tomato and orange soup, roast loin of veal and chocolate raspberry terrine.

The President talked about the library and joked and chatted with the guests but made no mention of any affairs of state, according to some of those who attended. He and the First Lady interrupted an Easter vacation at their Santa Barbara ranch to be flown by helicopter to the fund-raiser.

As Reagan disembarked and followed Mrs. Reagan to a limousine, several reporters shouted questions about Central America, their voices competing with the roar of the helicopter’s blades.

Received Letter

“What about Jesse and Noriega?” one yelled, referring to news that Democratic presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson had received a letter from Panamanian strongman Manuel A. Noriega.

Reagan, in a dark suit, just smiled and touched his ear as if to signal he could not hear. The motorcade then pulled onto Coto de Caza Road for the brief, three-quarters-of-a-mile trip to Lyon’s estate.

Lyon’s rambling estate is situated on 20 acres. The home’s 22,000 square feet include a 15,000-square-foot garage where Lyon keeps his collection of vintage cars. There are three fish ponds, a separate service entrance, stables and a separate 1,700-square-foot guest house for Lyon’s children and grandchildren.

The Reagans arrived during a champagne reception and chatted with guests before sitting down to lunch. One of the President’s table mates, Janice Johnson of Laguna Beach, said afterward that Reagan “told lots of good Russian jokes--jokes he told to the Russians.”

“It was a very low-key, social, nice event,” said developer Kathryn Thompson, one of the guests. Another guest, Gus Owen, said the President “was very comfortable and among friends.”

Guest List

Also on the guest list were philanthropist Armand Hammer and his wife, Frances; Charles Wick, head of the U.S. Information Agency, and his wife, Mary Jane, and fast-food magnate Carl Karcher.

According to another guest, Reagan spoke briefly about the library, saying that the facility will be “more than just a library for Ronald Reagan.”

“It will be a library to preserve the history of our country,” he was quoted as saying.

The Ventura County site for the library and a proposed Reagan Center for Public Affairs was decided upon after plans to house the facilities at Stanford University collapsed under the protest of some Stanford faculty members and nearby property owners.

The 153,000-square-foot library on unincorporated land between Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley will be the largest of eight presidential libraries. It will include an exhibit area, a 120-seat theater, an auditorium, seminar rooms and overnight accommodations for the President and Mrs. Reagan.

The facility, to be built with private funds and then turned over to the federal government to run, is expected to draw between 100,000 and 300,000 visitors a year.