REMEMBER THE MAN

New York Post ^ | 6/07/04 | PETER ROBINSON

[kattracks]

June 7, 2004 -- "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead." — Ronald Reagan, letter to the American people, Nov. 5, 1994 RONALD Reagan knew what Alzheimer's disease would do to him. He'd watched the disease claim the mind of his own mother. "Back then it was called 'senility,' Michael Reagan says, "but Nelle had Alzheimer's, too."

On Sunday afternoons, Nelle Reagan would drive from Los Angeles to Olive View Hospital in the San Fernando Valley, where she worked as a volunteer. As she grew more forgetful, Reagan himself made the drive one day, stopping at all the shops and gas stations along the way to leave pictures of his mother at each. "On the back was Dad's name and phone number," Mike says, "so if Nelle forgot who she was or where she was going, the store managers and gas station attendants would be able to call Dad to come get her."

Yet even as Alzheimer's in turn claimed his mind, Reagan conducted himself with dignity.

Watching the former president in the mid '90s, John Barletta, a Secret Service agent assigned to Rancho del Cielo, grew concerned.