Nancy Reagan, former first lady, died on the morning of March 6, 2016 of congestive heart failure in her home in Los Angeles. She was 94 years’ old.

Nancy Reagan experienced a long and interesting life. She was born Anne Frances Robbins Davis, “Nancy,” was born on July 6, 1921 in New York City. He father was Kenneth Robbins, a car salesman, and her mother was Edith Luckett Robbins, an actress. Her father abandoned them when Nancy was young, and her mother spent her time working for a theatre company. She sent Nancy to live with her aunt in Maryland and spent the next couple of years mothering her from a distance. Nancy would see her mother when Edith got a role. Nancy would ride the train to New York to watch her mother perform. When Nancy was eight, her mother married Loyal Davis, a successful neurosurgeon from Chicago who legally adopted Nancy in 1938. Suddenly Nancy was living a completely different life, she had new dresses, a nice house, and a loving father figure. Of course with new wealth came new expectations, and Nancy rose to those expectations easily. She excelled in school and received a degree in dramatic arts from Smith College.

After completing college Nancy decided to pursue an acting career. She performed on Broadway for a while and then was signed into MGM in 1949. She moved to Hollywood and later appeared in 11 feature films. She later said in a MGM biographical questionnaire that it was her “childhood ambition” to become an actress, but her “greatest ambition” was “to have a successful, happy marriage.”

It was in Hollywood that Nancy met Ronald Reagan, who was then the president of the Screen Actor Guild.

“I don’t know if it was exactly love at first sight,” Nancy said, “but it was pretty close.”

The two married in March of 1952 in a secret ceremony. Their daughter, Patti was born later that year and their son, Ron, was born in 1958. Nancy became stepmother to Ronald’s two children from his previous marriage. Their marriage was just as successful as Nancy hoped it would be.

“We have never had a presidential couple like the two of you, and that alone is an important historical fact. The love and devotion you show each other isn’t seen much around here these days,” said the Librarian of Congress, Daniel Boorstin at a dinner with presidential historians.

In 1962 Nancy retired from movies to become a fulltime homemaker. Her desire to be the perfect housewife later earned her some enemies during Ronald’s presidency. The feminist movement was going strong then, and radical feminists saw her as someone who stood for everything they stood against. Nancy eventually gained their respect when she began to put herself more out there. She was often the president’s aide, she was by his side at all times and could tell when people were taking advantage of him. She fired the staff that she considered incompetent, she had Ronald hire people who would be better suited for the job. In 1985 she hosted and international conference at the White House that focused on drug prevention. In 1986 President Reagan signed into law the “National Crusade for a Drug Free America” anti-drug use bill. Nancy travelled the country trying to promote her “just say no” campaign. Nancy paved the way for first ladies like Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama to have more power in the White House. She was a powerful woman who stood by her husband until his last breath and who worked to achieve what she believed in.

“Nancy is where she has always wanted to be, with her Ronnie,” said Michael Reagan, President of the Reagan Legacy Foundation, on Twitter. “Now she is at peace.”

Nancy will be buried with her husband, Ronald Reagan who died in 2004, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.