Small Service for Pat Nixon to Be Low-Key

By MARK PLATTE

June 26, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

YORBA LINDA —

For Pat Nixon, an intensely private woman, today’s funeral services to include only 250 family members and friends reflect her lifelong wish to avoid the public spotlight.

The services at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace begin at 10 a.m. with Vivaldi’s “Concerto for Two Trumpets” and “America,” performed by the Chapman University Choir and the Master Chorale of Orange County.

The Rev. Billy Graham, a longtime family friend, will officiate. It was Graham who urged Richard Nixon to run for president in 1968 after a long walk on the beach in Key Biscayne, Fla., telling him, Nixon recalled, “ ‘I think it is your destiny to be president.’ ”

Nixon, when he was a California congressman, first encountered Graham in 1950 and asked him to play a round of golf. The two have been close ever since. Graham dedicated the Nixon Library & Birthplace in 1990, gave the invocation at Nixon’s presidential inauguration and said the eulogy for Nixon’s mother.

Recently, Graham said he still does not understand why Watergate drove Nixon from office in 1974.

Following prayers and remarks from Graham this morning, the Orange County musicians will perform “For All the Saints Who From Their Labors Rest.”

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James (Don) Hughes will deliver the first of four eulogies. Hughes was Nixon’s military aide who was in Mrs. Nixon’s car in 1958 in Venezuela when it was set upon by an angry anti-American mob that threw stones and spat at the Nixon limousine.

Cynthia Hardin Milligan, daughter of former agriculture secretary Clifford Hardin, will deliver the second eulogy. Hardin served with Nixon until 1971. Milligan and her husband, Bob, are close friends of Julie and David Eisenhower and graduated from George Washington University Law School, where David studied law.

In her book about Pat Nixon, Julie described how her parents enjoyed spending time with the Milligans, particularly during the stressful days of Watergate.

The Milligans joined the Nixon family to celebrate the Christmas before the President’s resignation. The mood was subdued, Julie wrote, and her mother tried to cheer the family.

Following Milligan’s eulogy and a musical interlude, Gov. Pete Wilson and U.S. Sen. Robert Dole will deliver their eulogies. Wilson is the top Republican in California and Dole, as the Senate minority leader, is the nation’s highest ranking Republican.

Dole also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee during the Nixon Administration.

After Dole finishes his remarks, the musicians will play “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” the Rodgers and Hammerstein song from the 1945 musical “Carousel.”

Graham will close the 75-minute service and “America the Beautiful” will be performed.

About noon, those attending will gather inside the museum for a private reception.

The 1 p.m. burial, beside the First Lady’s garden, will be open only to family members.

Funeral Guests

This is a partial list of the approximately 250 family members and friends who will attend private funeral services for Pat Nixon. They are identified by name and current or former titles or relationship to the family.

* Robert Abplanalp, friend

* Carolyn Ahmanson, chairperson of President’s Council

* Lee Annenberg, ambassador

* Walter Annenberg, ambassador

* Mr. & Mrs. Winton Blount, former postmaster general

* Patrick J. Buchanan, White House staff

* Neil Bush, representing President and Mrs. Bush

* John Chafee, senator

* Charles Colson, White House staff

* John B. Connally III, representing Connally family

* Bob Dole, senator

* Mr. & Mrs. Buddy Ebsen, board of directors RNLB