LOS ANGELES, Calif.--The Rev. Michael H. Wenning retired in 2001 from Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, which members of the Ronald Reagan family have long attended, but he remains close to the family. According to the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, Wenning was at his home in Florida when former President Ronald Reagan died, June 5, and he flew to California to be with the family. Wenning will conduct the interment service Friday in California.

His compassion for the forme First Lady Nancy Reagan came as no surprise to his former secretary from Pleasant Hills, Marty Lawson.

"Michael is one of the most compassionate, caring, loving Christians I have ever known. He has a gift of listening," she said.

Wenning was called to Bel Air in Los Angeles during the time Ronald Reagan had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

"He would go to the house and be with the family, be a pastor to them. They felt very comfortable with him," said Michael Hooper, executive director of the 2,500-member Bel Air church.

"He is a very humble man. I think Mrs. Reagan has appreciated that and respects his sincerity."

Although retired, "He knew that when it was time for President Reagan to go and be with the Lord, wherever [Wenning] was he would come back and be here for the family," Hooper said.

On Monday, Hooper said, Wenning told him about sharing passages from the Bible with the staff at the Reagan Library.

"He said, who would have thought a young immigrant coming from South Africa, serving a church in Pittsburgh ... and ending up to be the chaplain to the former president of the United States. He said it could only happen in America," Hooper said.