Mourners gather in Michigan for first lady Betty Ford

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich (Reuters) - Mourners gathered for an afternoon funeral Thursday for former first lady Betty Ford in her western Michigan hometown and interment later beside her husband at the President Gerald R. Ford Museum.

The motorcade carrying Ford's casket left the museum just before 1 p.m. Thursday, winding four miles through the city to the tan brick Grace Episcopal Church a half hour later.

The body of Ford -- the wife of former President Gerald R. Ford -- who died at age 93 in California on Friday, arrived in Grand Rapids on Wednesday following a service in California on Tuesday.

The former first lady will be interred next to her husband on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Museum in downtown Grand Rapids.

Thursday would have been President Ford's 98th birthday. The family is expected to lay wreaths on his grave site as well. President Ford died in 2006.

Former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former first lady Barbara Bush were to attend the service. Ford is to be eulogized by Lynne Cheney and presidential historian Richard Norton Smith, who previously was the director of the Ford museum.

City streets along the motorcade route were lined with citizens honoring the former first lady, watching as the police cars, black SUVs and cars carried Ford's four children and their families to the church.

Invited guests were delivered to the church via shuttle bus before the motorcade's departure. The family met privately in the museum for an hour on Thursday.

Some 5,000 people filed past the casket on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, said Matt McLogan, spokesman for the Gerald R. Ford Foundation. They were greeted by family members, including children and grandchildren of the Fords.

Mourners received a card with Betty Ford's portrait on one side and an Emily Dickinson poem on the other. Members of the Michigan State Police and other area police agencies stood near the casket throughout the repose periods.

The public left items at the foot of the museum's sign, such as candles, flowers and notes. One was an American flag with writing in the white stripes, thanking Ford for her various contributions.

"Thanks for teaching us all to be first ladies," the message read.

As first lady, Betty Ford publicly tackled breast cancer and a dependence on alcohol and pain pills. She lent her name to two institutions, the Betty Ford Breast Care Services at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids and the Betty Ford Center in California.

The Fords remained close to the hearts of Grand Rapids' populace, which Gerald Ford represented in Congress for nearly a quarter century starting in 1949.

The first lady and President Ford were married at Grace Episcopal Church in the suburb of East Grand Rapids.

While both Fords were born elsewhere, each moved to Grand Rapids as a toddler and grew up in the solidly Republican area. Over the years, the Fords lent their support to numerous fund-raising efforts in western Michigan.

Ford was remembered for her activism and pioneering work for addicts at a memorial service in California on Tuesday that drew leading political lights of the past four decades.

Once dubbed the "fighting first lady" by Time magazine for her outspoken political views, Ford was a vocal supporter of women's rights while her husband was president from 1974 to 1977.

Ford led early efforts to raise awareness of the battle against breast cancer after undergoing a mastectomy in 1974, less than two months after her husband succeeded the disgraced Richard Nixon as president.

(Editing by Jerry Norton and Peter Bohan)