NAMES IN THE NEWS : Lady Bird Bows Out of Program

Lady Bird Johnson, whose name has been synonymous with highway beautification for decades, is bowing out of a state landscape award program she has overseen for 20 years.

The former First Lady established and funded the Highway Maintenance Foreman’s Awards, which presented cash to highway workers responsible for stretches of Texas roads judged to have the best wildflowers, picnic areas and landscaping.

Johnson said she had accomplished much of what she intended in the program and wants to spend more time with her family.

“I really and truly am tired, and to find open days and free time, oddly enough, has become increasingly difficult,” Johnson, 79, said in a recent letter to Bob Dedman, state Highway Commission chairman.

“Second, after 20 years it seems to me that whatever impression, impetus, enthusiasm for aesthetics along the highways--whatever we can do--has been done, if indeed it was do-able,” wrote the former First Lady, whose campaign to improve roadside scenery began in the early 1960s while her husband, Lyndon, was President.

State highway officials said they will try to continue the program without Johnson, using state funds to pay the prize money to people responsible for the most beautiful stretch. The winner receives $1,000 and the runner-up $500.