Former first lady of the United States, Nancy Reagan, died Sunday March 6 at the age of 94 due to heart failure at her home in Los Angeles. Current first lady Michelle Obama, and former first lady Hillary Clinton are set to attend Nancy Reagans funeral in California on Friday.

“The news came as a shock,” Breana Bradford, 12, said. “I didn’t realize how long Nancy Reagan had lived for.”

The former first lady started as an actor after graduating from Smith College in Massachusetts, calling herself Nancy Davis even though she was born under the name Anne Frances Robbins. She later moved to Hollywood for her first feature film, The Doctor and the Girl. During her career in Hollywood, she had roles in eleven featured films; however, during the production of one of her films, she was wrongfully suspected as being a communist supporter. Oddly enough, this is how Ronald and Nancy first met. Shortly after being accused of being a communist, Nancy sought help from the president of the Screen Actors Guild at the time, Ronald Reagan. The two married on March 4, 1952 and eventually both starred in the World War II film, Hellcats of the Navy.

“You learn about Ronald Reagan in history class,” Elani Vengas, 12, said, “but you never learn much about the first lady or what they did before they rose to the Oval Office.”

Nancy Reagan accomplished a lot during her years as the first lady. One of the most memorable is the “Just Say No” campaign. The goal of the campaign was to promote anti-drug usage in America. This campaign eventually allowed her to become the first first lady to address the United Nations General Assembly in 1988. In the address she said that the United States should enforce stricter drug law enforcement and education. She went on to explain that the US should stop focusing on the foreign countries where the drugs are coming from, but rather focus on the streets and cities in the United States that are selling the drugs. Nancy Reagan proved to have a strong political influence behind the scenes at the White House.

“I didn’t really know much about Nancy Reagan,” Kelly Ramo, 12, said, “but its sad to hear that such an influential women passed away.”

After Ronald Reagan’s term in office was up on Jan. 20, 1989, the couple enjoyed the rest of their lives together until Jun. 5, 2004 when Nancy Reagans beloved husband, and 40^th president of the United States of America, passed away at the age of 93.

“I miss Ronnie a lot, an awful lot,” Nancy Reagan said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “People say it gets better. No, it does not.”

The former first lady went on to live nearly another twelve years without her beloved husband. She exclaimed in an interview with ABC News, that she would sometimes wake up at night, thinking that “Ronnie” was there with her. Hopefully, the two have once again been reunited.