District Magazine December 2014 | Page 12

11 Things You Didn’t Know About... 1 Lady Bird Johnson is a legacy. Her courageous efforts to make the world a more beautiful o Her favorite colplace led her to perfecting the Capitol grounds ors were coral and founding her own wildflower center. As and navy. First Lady she made the role into something Got her nickthat was respected. She had her own chief of o name from her staff and her own projects that did not just nurse, Alice involve choosing China patterns. It would be Tittle, who said Lady Bird’s 102nd birthday December 22nd, so she was as “purty as a ladycheck out the facts below to celebrate “Bird’s” bird.” Her father and siblings lifelong pursuits. called her Lady and Lyndon N N N3 o N4 Lady Bird She graduo grew to love ated from high the outschool, third in doors by her class, at the age of growing up in the tall pines 15. She had been drivand bayous of East Texas ing herself to school, a and watching the wildflow- distance of 15 miles each ers bloom each spring. way. She graduated A friend o from UT with o was going a Bachelor of to the UniArts degree versity of with honors in 1933 Texas at Austin so Lady and in 1934 a second bachBird chartered a plane elor’s degree in journalism to Austin and fell in love Cum Laude in 1934. She with the city and bluewas active in the Orange bonnets. Jackets. N6 7 N N9 N 10 o She purchased KTBC, an Austin radio station, and KTBC-TV/7, an Austin TV station against Lyndon’s wishes. This business investment later made them millionaires. 12 o In the White House she was the first to have her own Press Secretary and launched a capitol beautification program. She went on the first solo whistlestop tour as the First Lady. 2 called her Bird. Bird was used on their marriage license. N5 o She let her grades slip her senior year so she would not have to give the valedictorian or salutorian speech. LBJ took Lady Bird on their first o date to breakfast at the Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin. He proposed to her on a drive in the country that morning. She accepted his proposal 10 weeks later & they were married on November 17, 1934. N8 N 11 To finance Lyndon’s political career she invested $10,000 into his first campaing. When he joined the Navy she ran his congressional office. o