PALM DESERT, Dec 30: Waiting in line up to three hours, thousands paid their final respects to former President Gerald R. Ford, filing through the church where the man many credit with healing a troubled nation had prayed since retiring from public life.

Continuing into the wee hours of Saturday morning, buses brought people to St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church from a gathering point at a tennis centre eight kilometres away. Mourners ranging from children to the elderly walked through quickly and then re-boarded their buses, a process taking less than two minutes.

“It’s so moving, especially with someone like Ford, who had such an important place in history,” said Michelle Dhami, who came with her two young children.

The viewing was ended just after 6:30am (1430 GMT) on Saturday, when military officials began preparing for a departure ceremony and to transport Ford’s body to the airport for a flight to Washington. Former first lady Betty Ford was to accompany her husband’s body on that flight.

Two services were planned in Washington, and Ford was to be buried in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Jan 3.

Ford died on Tuesday at age 93. He became president when Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal, but was defeated by Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election.

He was a Republican congressman from Michigan when Nixon named him vice president after Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973.

Ford’s pardon of Nixon not long after taking office sparked intense criticism, but with time many Americans have come to see Ford’s decision as courageous and one that helped heal a nation fatigued from the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War.

Six days of national mourning began on Friday with military honours and a simple family prayer service at St. Margaret’s, where the Ford family has worshipped for 30 years.

Betty Ford and her children watched as uniformed enlisted men from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines carried Ford’s flag-draped casket.

A Marine Corps band played the hymn “O God Our Help in Ages Past” and a sailor honored Ford’s Navy service by carrying an ebony staff flying the presidential seal.

“We receive the body of our brother, Gerald, for burial,” the Rev. Robert Certain, church rector, said as the casket was carried inside. It was then placed before the blond-wood altar decorated with wreaths of white flowers.

The private family service was followed by a visitation for invited friends, including former Secretary of State George Shultz, former New York Congressman Jack Kemp and former California Gov. Pete Wilson. When it ended, Mrs Ford left in a motorcade headed back to her home in the neighbouring city of Rancho Mirage.—AP