Patti Davis, left, greets Rosalynn Carter as Hillary Clinton looks at the casket during the graveside service for Nancy Reagan at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Friday, March 11, 2016 in Simi Valley, Calif. AP
SIMI VALLEY, California 鈥� Nancy Reagan is once again with her beloved Ronnie.
The former first lady鈥檚 life was celebrated Friday by 1,000 invited guests who gathered at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library to pay final tribute to her and to the enduring love she and her husband shared during a storied 52-year marriage.
The funeral also marked one of the last chapters of a fading political era that stirs nostalgia among American conservatives. Without Mrs. Reagan, her son said, the Republican renaissance of the 1980s might not have happened.
鈥淭here would be no Ronald Reagan Presidential Library without a President Ronald Reagan, and there likely wouldn鈥檛 have been a President Ronald Reagan without a Nancy Reagan,鈥� said Ron Reagan, delivering the last of several eulogies during the 90-minute service.
READ: Nancy Reagan begins final journey to husband鈥檚 side
Mourners from the top ranks of Washington and Hollywood heard how President Reagan was generally affable and trusting, but Mrs. Reagan was made of different cloth.
She could be gracious and quick with a laugh, but also fiercely protective of her husband and sometimes quick to anger at any perceived slight directed at him.
鈥淚 think we can admit that she was not always the easiest person to deal with,鈥� her son said, drawing laughter from an audience filled with politicians, heads of state, actors, musicians, a former president and several first ladies.
鈥淪he could be difficult. She could be demanding. She could a bit excessive. Truly, she could be a royal pain in the ass when she wanted to be,鈥� he continued. 鈥淏ut usually only so my father didn鈥檛 have to be.
鈥淚f you happen to run into the ghost of Don Regan sometime, you can just ask him,鈥� he added, referring to the former White House chief of staff Mrs. Reagan pushed her husband to fire after the two feuded over policy issues.
鈥淥ccasionally I鈥檝e thought that even God might not have the guts to argue with Nancy Reagan,鈥� quipped the couple鈥檚 daughter, Patti Davis.
Each speaker also noted the couple鈥檚 enduring love.
鈥淲hen they were together, he hid love notes around the house for her to find,鈥� said another Reagan former chief of staff, James Baker. 鈥淪he reciprocated by secreting little notes in jellybeans in his suitcase.
鈥淩onald and Nancy Reagan were defined by their love for each other,鈥� Baker continued. 鈥淭hey were as close to being one person as it is possible for any two people to be.鈥�
President Reagan spoke in public so warmly, and so often, about his wife, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney recalled, that he once told Reagan he was making every other world leader look bad in front of their wives.
鈥淲ell, Brian,鈥� he said the president told him with a smile, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 your problem.鈥�
The guest list for the funeral told the story of the couple鈥檚 life together, which stretched from Hollywood鈥檚 Golden Age to the California statehouse during Reagan鈥檚 time as governor to the White House.
READ: Obama praises Nancy Reagan as a source of comfort, strength
The gathering also brought together Democrat and Republican, an unusual tableau at a time of deep division in Washington and on the 2016 campaign trail.
Mourners included former Reagan administration official Ed Meese, former House Speakers Newt Gingrich (Republican) and Nancy Pelosi (Democrat), Mike Love of the Beach Boys and singer Johnny Mathis.
Among those in the front row were first lady Michelle Obama, who was seated next to former President George W. Bush. Former first lady and current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sat between Bush鈥檚 wife, Laura, and former first lady Rosalynn Carter. Gov. Jerry Brown escorted Mrs. Obama to the funeral, while former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived with his ex-wife, Maria Shriver.
The actor Mr. T, who became friendly with Mrs. Reagan during her 鈥淛ust Say No鈥� to drugs campaign, arrived wearing an American flag bandanna.
Heavy rain had been forecast for the ceremony, and guests were ushered into a cavernous waterproof tent behind the library. But a drenching downpour held off until the event concluded.
Mrs. Reagan, who died Sunday at 94, was buried next to her husband on the library grounds.
The sprawling, Spanish mission-style library is located between the Reagans鈥� post-White House home in the upscale Bel Air section of Los Angeles and Rancho del Cielo, the 鈥渞anch in the sky鈥� where the Reagans spent their leisure time, sometimes on horseback, in the rugged mountains near Santa Barbara.
On Wednesday and Thursday at the library, more than 5,500 mourners filed slowly past the former first lady鈥檚 closed casket, blanketed with white roses and peonies, Mrs. Reagan鈥檚 favorite flower.
Tears often fell. The crowd, many in graying years, spoke to a time when it was 鈥渕orning again in America鈥� and the nation followed the Reagan doctrine to weaken Soviet influence during the Cold War.
Reagan left the presidency after eight years, on Jan. 20, 1989.
The library site, where the 40th president was buried in 2004, provides sweeping views of horse country dotted with oaks and, on a clear day, a vista to the Pacific.
The Reagans 鈥渏ust fell in love鈥� with the spot, Boston developer and Republican fundraiser Gerald Blakeley recalled in a 2004 interview. He was part of a partnership that donated the land where the library now sits.