Gipper gone, but ‘spirit is still alive’

Americans were saddened and caught off guard to learn of former President Ronald Reagan’s death yesterday despite his age and long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

In Tampico, Ill., Mr. Reagan’s hometown, patrons at the Dutch Diner were “a little surprised” to learn of his demise, said Tressa Card, the 28-year-old daughter of the owners.

“It’s a sad day,” she said. “I think everyone is sad. He was a good president and a good man, and we feel bad for his wife and wish his family the best.

“He’s been fading with Alzheimer’s and other problems, and everyone was expecting this, but it was still a surprise,” Miss Card said.

Mr. Reagan, 93, died yesterday at 1 p.m. with his family by side at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.

He was the “claim to fame” for the tiny town of Tampico, population 900, where Mr. Reagan was nicknamed “Dutch” by his father, John Edward Reagan. The Dutch Diner on South Main Street was originally named after the Pennsylvania Dutch, “but it worked out real well,” Miss Card said.

At a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Macomb County, Mich., where the term Reagan Democrat was hatched in 1980 after he captured the vote of conservative Democrats — many of them blue-collar — the flag was lowered immediately to half-staff when news of the president’s death was broadcast.

“It slowed the beat down here,” said Matthew Carrow, post commander. “You can see the change in people’s faces when they begin to speak about the death. Ronald Reagan was a very important man, and he meant something in this area especially.”

Flags were also lowered to half-staff at ballparks and at the Belmont Stakes, where a moment of silence was held before the horse race.

Jennifer Chambrin was shopping in an Atlanta Container Store when she learned of Mr. Reagan’s demise.

“It was shocking, it was very shocking,” said Miss Chambrin, 32, who was 8 years old when Mr. Reagan was first elected president in 1980.

She said she voted for him in the Weekly Reader magazine poll conducted in schools throughout the nation and grew up in a Republican “Reagan house.”

“What he did to open Eastern Europe and tearing down the [Berlin] wall, it was all Reagan,” she said.

Mr. Reagan is credited with defeating communism and in 1987 called upon Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”

“He had such an important role in making Europe what it is today,” she said.

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