When former President Ronald Reagan died last June, photographers captured countless poignant moments at his funeral services. From the throngs of people who came through the Reagan Library for a glimpse of the late president’s casket, to the procession through the streets of Washington, D.C., virtually every detail of the week of mourning made its way onto video or film.

Those cameras didn’t get there by accident.

Speaking at the Dole Institute of Politics as part of the Presidential Lecture Series Thursday, three members of Reagan’s advance team — the group in charge of coordinating public events and media relations for the president — described the years of planning it took to put together the weeklong funeral proceedings.

“For a number of years there were a series of meetings, probably twice a year, out in California to talk about this,” said Jim Hooley, a member of Reagan’s Senior Staff. “It was a little bit maudlin. We obviously kept it secret.”

During Reagan’s tenure, Hooley, Andrew Littlefair and Gary Foster were responsible for bolstering the president’s image through staged events. Under the tutelage of image master Michael Deaver, the Reagan advance team helped revolutionize the way administrations managed the public perception of the commander in chief.

But, the men said Thursday, no public event during the Reagan years compared with the intense planning it took to put the funeral together. Much of the success of the event, from a media coverage perspective, came from the cooperation of Nancy Reagan, they said.

“She wanted to share every moment (of the funeral) with everybody,” said Foster, who was Reagan’s director of presidential press advance.

Roughly 200 people attended the event at the Dole Institute, which was filmed by CSPAN, Sunflower Broadband Channel 27. A Dole Institute staff member said the event was scheduled to be aired later this month.

This year’s Presidential Lecture Series, titled “The Reagan Presidency,” continues next Thursday when former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack Matlock will speak about Reagan’s relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev.