A Live Report on the Burial of President Ronald Reagan; A look back at the Life and Legacy of Soul Singer Ray Charles
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is June 12. Good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen. Coming up during our first hour...</s>PATTI DAVIS, RONALD REAGAN'S DAUGHTER: At his last moment, when he opened his eyes, eyes that had not opened for many, many days, and looked at my mother, he showed us that neither disease nor death can conquer love.</s>NGUYEN: A family bids a fond farewell and mourners throughout the world join in their grief. Former President Reagan's journey ends with a sunset service. We take you live to the Reagan Presidential Library straight ahead. Also, another reason to mourn -- blues singer Ray Charles dies at 73. We take a look back at the life of this legendary musician. And they're the huddled masses who yearned for freedom. Want to know who's a part of your family tree? We'll show you how to dig up your roots. But first, here's what's happening at this hour. Gunmen in Baghdad have killed a veteran Iraqi diplomat, a deputy foreign minister who had just returned from the United States. Bassam Salih Kubba was leaving his home when the gunmen drove by and fired shots into his car. We also have a developing story to report from Iraq, the apparent release of seven Turkish contractors. An official with their employer, a construction company, tells our sister network, CNN Turk, that the men were released unharmed in Fallujah. Gunmen displayed the hostages earlier this week in a videotape, demanding that all Turkish companies pull out of Iraq. And in another update now just coming in from Iraq, captors have freed a Lebanese hostage. The release comes after the killing of another Lebanese hostage. The whereabouts of a third Lebanese hostage is still unknown. Well, the jury in the Terry Nichols state trial deadlocked on the death penalty. That leaves the sentencing up to the judge, who can only impose life in prison with or without parole. Nichols is already serving a federal sentence of life without parole for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. We'll have a live report on the trial. That's coming up at the bottom of the hour. For the first time, Serbian officials have admitted to the mass genocide at Srebrenica. The admissions were made during an investigation into the massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims in July of 1995. A report from the commission investigating the incident found that Bosnian Serb military and police participated in the killings. Our top story at this hour, the sun sets on the life and leadership of Ronald Wilson Reagan. A week of national mourning concludes with a private service and sunset burial in his beloved state of California. CNN's Miguel Marquez join us live from the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley -- Miguel, it has been a very difficult week.</s>MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly has and, you know, last night and yesterday was certainly a solemn day. But certainly celebrated, as well, by many people that I spoke to along the procession route that Reagan's body took from Point Mugu to the Reagan Library here. Seven hundred friends and family members gathered here. Thousands of people lined that route for that perfect sunset ceremony you talked about. We heard from some folks that we hadn't heard from all week long. Patti, Davis, Ronald Reagan's daughter, spoke about her father's last moments.</s>DAVIS: I don't know why Alzheimer's was allowed to steal so much of my father -- I'm sorry -- before releasing him into the arms of death. But I know that at his last moment, when he opened his eyes, eyes that had not opened for many, many days, and looked at my mother, he showed us that neither disease nor death can conquer love.</s>NGUYEN: Now perhaps among the most touching moments of last night's service was when Captain James Symonds -- he's the captain of the USS Ronald Reagan -- bent down on one knee to hand the folded flag, the flag that had draped the 40th president's coffin for most of this week, to Nancy Reagan. She clutched it to her chest. They spoke to each other for a few moments and at that point Mrs. Reagan got up to go to the coffin for one last time. She had been rock solid all week long, expressing little emotion. But when she got to that coffin, she bent down near it, said, "I love you," and then she broke down into tears. Her son and her daughter both came to her side and held her for a short time with the flag in between them. Mr. Reagan is now interred here at the Reagan National Library in Simi Valley, halfway between the Bel-Air home in Los Angeles, where he and Mrs. Reagan lived for many years, and Rancho del Cielo, the Ranch of the Sky, that's up in Santa Barbara, almost right in between them, where he will stay. And the Library now is closed for this weekend. It will open up again on Monday. And I'm sure they're expecting a very busy day -- Betty.</s>MARQUEZ: Absolutely, Miguel. What's next for the Reagan family? I imagine Mrs. Reagan needs a lot of rest now.</s>MARQUEZ: They left here last night. I suppose that there will be some time where they will stay indoors and out of the public eye for a while, because this has been a very, very public week, and certainly a very trying week, because of the bicoastal nature of this state funeral -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: Miguel Marquez in Simi Valley. Thank you very much. For the past week, since last Saturday's announcement that the former president had died, people far from the halls of power have spoken of how Ronald Reagan inspired them. One man who was just a boy when he met the president, says the leader's words of praise helped define his life's work.</s>NGUYEN (voice-over): In a stone barn in western Philadelphia, Trevor Ferrell stores boxes of memories, articles and awards honoring his life's work -- helping those in need. It began when he was just 11.</s>TREVOR FERRELL, FOUNDER, TREVOR'S THRIFT SHOP: Coming into the city, we saw a homeless man. And we pulled over and I got out of the car with my dad behind me and I went up to the man and I gave him a blanket and pillow. And I felt good.</s>NGUYEN: So good he began to collect more items for the homeless. Others joined him. He formed an organization and got an invitation to the Oval Office.</s>T. FERRELL: You picture a president, you know, to be up on a pedestal, so to speak. And he didn't seem to be that way to me. I felt like I was with my grandfather.</s>NGUYEN: And then, in 1986, an even greater honor.</s>RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We see the dream born again in the joyful compassion of 13-year-old Trevor Ferrell. Two years ago, Trevor left his suburban Philadelphia home to bring blankets and food to the helpless and homeless. Trevor, yours is the living spirit of brotherly love. Would you four stand up for a moment?</s>NGUYEN: Trevor never felt comfortable with all the attention, but Reagan's words still move him.</s>T. FERRELL: Trevor, you have given these gift -- these people the gift of self-respect, security, a sense of belonging. And most of all, you've given them a reason to go on. Remember I said -- I'm getting upset as I read this. As I said that -- I can't finish it. I can't.</s>NGUYEN: Today, Trevor is still helping others. His thrift store provides furniture, dishes and clothing to people in need. His daughter Katie works with him. For school, she wrote a report about President Reagan, including his favorite food.</s>K. FERRELL: I wrote down jelly beans. I didn't even have to like, like guess or anything, or look it up on the Internet. It's just, I knew that he really like jelly beans.</s>NGUYEN: Her dad still keeps the jar Reagan gave him 18 years ago.</s>T. FERRELL: I would not suggest eating these.</s>NGUYEN: Ferrell says the best gift Reagan gave him was recognition that he was doing the right thing.</s>T. FERRELL: I look up to President Reagan and I know a lot of people say well, that's kind of against what you should be for. He cut a lot of social services and stuff like that. And I understand that. At the same time, I think he was giving a message to us that us as citizens have to stand up and make a difference.</s>NGUYEN: Trevor Ferrell is now in his early 30s and even after achieving national fame, inspiring a book and a movie, and receiving presidential praise, he says he remains close to the long time friends he found on the street. News across America this Saturday morning. The Las Vegas strip, which lights up the desert, went dark for three minutes last night as a memorial to former President Ronald Reagan. The casino lights were turned off six times in the past, the last time on a national day of mourning following 9/11. Tornadoes have caused scattered damage in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota, but no injuries are reported so far. Tornadoes touched down in at least two Iowa counties. And across the state line in Minnesota, one house was destroyed and others were damaged. Most of the damage was limited to farm crops. A 23 acre lake all but disappeared this week from the town of Wildwood, Missouri, with the water draining into a sinkhole in the lake's bottom. A geologist says the water drained to a spring about four miles away. Residents of the affluent St. Louis suburb are not happy that their lakefront homes are now mud front homes. They're not happy about that at all. Well, actress Katherine Hepburn has been dead now for a year and personal items she owned are being auctioned at Sotheby's in New York. $316,000 has been bid for a bronze bust of Spencer Tracy that Hepburn sculpted herself. A diamond broche, a gift to Hepburn from Howard Hughes, well, that sold for $120,000. Iraqi Kurds fear being politically sidelined after the transfer of power in Iraq. Will the issue lead to more instability in the war torn country? That story ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Also, tracing your family's history -- tips from a world renowned genealogist ahead. And another American legend dies. We'll look back at the remarkable career of the music great. Of course, we're talking about Ray Charles. And we want to ask you your opinion this morning. Tell us who you think was America's greatest president. You can find us at wam@cnn.com. I'll be reading your replies throughout the program.