A military guard stands by the casket bearing the body of former first lady Betty Ford after her funeral at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, California July 12, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

Following the funeral, members of the public were invited to file past the casket and sign a guest book until midnight.

On Wednesday, Ford's body will be flown to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where another church service will feature remarks by Lynne Cheney, wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and historian Richard Norton Smith. Former first lady Barbara Bush was expected to attend that event.

Later Thursday, her body will be interred at the presidential museum along with her husband on what would have been Gerald Ford's 98th birthday.

Ford, the accidental first lady, was thrust into the White House when Nixon resigned as president on August 9, 1974, and her husband, then vice president, assumed the nation's highest office. Although she always said she never expected nor wanted to be first lady, she quickly embraced the role.

When Roberts' father, Democratic Congressman Hale Boggs, was the House majority leader and Ford's husband was the House minority leader, Roberts recalled, they could argue about issues but get together as friends afterward. Their families became close, as did the Ford and Carter families, despite Jimmy Carter defeating Ford in the 1976 presidential election.

Rosalynn Carter recalled her husband was governor of Georgia when she met Ford during a visit the first lady paid to their state.

"We invited Betty to stay at the governor's mansion. She was the most distinguished guest we had ever had but when she arrived she was so warm and friendly that she immediately put me at ease and we had a good time together.

"Of course I didn't tell her then that my husband was thinking of running for president," Carter added, provoking laughter.

But even after Ford's husband lost his re-election bid to Carter's husband, a lifelong friendship remained intact.

The two-hour service began after California Highway Patrol motorcycles and squad cars escorted Ford's hearse and her family members to the church in four black sedans and six SUVS. The hearse pulled up to a side entrance, and the casket was carried inside, followed by about two dozen mourners, including family members.

Other mourners arrived later by the busload, after the family was given private time inside the church. Family spokeswoman Barbara Lewandrowski said family members had also gathered over the weekend to reflect on Ford's life.

"They are reading emails and telling stories, enjoying each other's fellowship," she said.

A program prepared for the service featured a picture of Ford, the Emily Dickinson poem "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking," and the words, "The family thanks you for your support," followed by the signatures Mike, Jack, Steve and Susan, Ford's four children.

"We know of Mom's love, her love, her love of God and it's personal touch on her life bringing good out of evil, healing out of brokenness, joy and dancing, yes dancing. She was quite a dancer ... dancing out of sorrow," her son Michael Ford told mourners.

She was such a good dancer, Carter noted, that she was once a member of the celebrated Martha Graham dance troupe and performed at New York's Carnegie Hall.

Outside the church, news media trucks were lined up on a nearby street. TV cameras were crowded onto big-rig flatbed trucks.

Earlier in the day, passers-by, some walking dogs or out for a jog, stopped to reflect on the former first lady's life.

"I don't know where a lot of people would be if it weren't for her," said Randy Gaynor, 47, a recovering alcoholic who stopped to talk to reporters outside the church. "There's been a lot of first ladies and they did a lot of things, but this will be long remembered after she's gone."

The Ford children and other family members leave at the end of the funeral for former first lady Betty Ford at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, California July 12, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]