Lady Bird Johnson Visited Rochester

By Bob Freund, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.

Jul. 12–Lady Bird Johnson probably knew the halls of the Mayo Clinic well in the 1940s and ’50s.

Johnson, former first lady and spouse of former President Lyndon Johnson, died Wednesday at age 94 at her home in Austin, Texas.

She likely accompanied her husband before his presidential years on some of his 11 visits to Rochester from the 1940s through 1956.

Lady Bird herself came to Mayo Clinic for a check-up and some minor surgery in the winter of 1962. She stayed with family friends Dr. J.C. Cain and his wife Ida May then, and spoke to the Post-Bulletin.

A native of a small Texas town, she said she was “fascinated” with the on-and-off snowfalls that February. She also was surprised that many Rochester homes are built with large picture windows, she said.

Cain said that he gave a Texas-style picnic at Silver Lake for the future president during the 1940s in one of their first trips here. It featured ice cream and fried chicken. Both the Cains now are deceased.

The ties to the clinic continued after Johnson’s presidency, as in late 1969 he was selected as one of six members from the public to serve on the Mayo Foundation’s board of trustees.

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