A bouquet of Blue Bell wildflowers, a favorite of former first lady Lady Bird Johnson, sits on the table as Donna Olmstead, left, and her son, Austin, 10, sign a remembrance book for Johnson on Thursday at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. The widow of President Lyndon Baines Johnson died Wednesday of natural causes at her Austin home. She was 94.

Johnson City, Texas ? People in this Hill Country town that gave respite to a war-weary president and became the home of his widow for decades were preparing Thursday for a final farewell for the gentle woman they considered a friend.

“Mrs. Johnson had a way of making the most common person feel special,” recalled Judy Yentzen, who got to know Lady Bird Johnson while both were members of the Johnson City Garden Club.

Johnson, widow of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday at 94 surrounded by family and friends at her home in Austin. She had maintained two residences, one in Austin and the other on the LBJ Ranch, about 15 miles outside of Johnson City, a town of about 1,200 that was the home of the Western White House from 1963 until 1969 and was named for her husband’s pioneer relatives.

Mayor Kermit Roeder said he and other Johnson City officials will be scrambling over the next few days to handle the traffic from Mrs. Johnson’s funeral procession, which will travel about 50 miles from the Texas Capitol to the ranch, where she will be buried beside her husband. LBJ died Jan. 22, 1973.

“It’s a bittersweet honor for the town,” Roeder said.

Formal observances are scheduled to begin today when Johnson’s casket will be placed in the LBJ Library at the University of Texas at Austin. It will be adorned with wildflowers, which have become emblematic of the former first lady. Recent heavy rain has produced an unusually colorful display of flowers, prompting family spokeswoman Elizabeth Christian to quip that “Mrs. Johnson’s timing was impeccable as usual.”

Yentzen said that devoting herself to natural beauty was an integral part of Johnson’s personality.

“For her, it was about taking care of the world we live in,” Yentzen said while sitting on a bench outside President Johnson’s boyhood home, which is maintained on its original site as part of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park.

That park was transformed into a temporary memorial for Johnson on Thursday. About twice as many visitors as normal found their way to the visitors’ center to gaze at the old photos that covered the Johnsons’ lives.