Former First Lady Barbara Bush Has Passed Away at Age 92, Rest in Peace

BARBARA BUSH, WIFE OF 41 AND MOTHER OF 43 HAS DIED.

Barbara Bush, only the second woman in American history who was the wife and mother of United States Presidents and the only woman in American history to be alive for both Presidencies, has died at the age of 92. We say goodbye to a true original. Barbara and George H.W. Bush were married for 73 years. A spokeswoman says former President George H.W. Bush held the hand of his wife, Barbara Bush, all day and was by her side when she died. Funeral services for Barbara Bush are planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, which she and former President George H.W. Bush regularly attended. She was an amazing woman. She will be so missed, Rest In Peace.

Barbara’s Pearls of Wisdom

”The American Dream is about equal opportunity for everyone who works hard. If we don’t give everyone the ability to simply read and write, then we aren’t giving everyone an equal chance to succeed.“
—Barbara Bush

Barbara Bush, the widely admired wife of one president and the fiercely loyal mother of another, died Tuesday evening at her home in Houston. She was 92.

Jim McGrath, a family spokesman, announced the death in a statement posted to Twitter.

On Sunday, the office of her husband, former President George Bush, issued a statement saying that after consulting her family and her doctors, Mrs. Bush had “decided not to seek additional medical treatment and will instead focus on comfort care.”

The Bushes had celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary in January, making them the longest-married couple in presidential history.

Mrs. Bush had been hospitalized with pneumonia in December 2013. She underwent surgery for a perforated ulcer in 2008 and had heart surgery four months later.

Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Bret Baier and Brit Hume pay tribute to Barbara Bush

She was born Barbara Pierce on June 8, 1925, at a maternity hospital in New York City run by the Salvation Army principally for unwed mothers. The family obstetrician practiced there one month a year, and that month happened to be June. She was the third child of the former Pauline Robinson and Marvin Pierce. Her father was in the publishing business and eventually became president of the McCall publishing company. Her mother, the daughter of an Ohio Supreme Court justice, was active in civic affairs in Rye, N.Y., the New York City suburb where the family lived.

After graduating in 1942, Mr. Bush enlisted in the Navy and trained as a pilot. The next year, he was assigned to a torpedo squadron in the Pacific and piloted a Grumman Avenger. On one combat mission, in 1944, he was shot down and rescued by a submarine. Barbara did not hear from him for a month.

After enrolling at Smith College but before entering the freshman class, she shocked her mother by spending the summer working in a nuts-and-bolts factory.

She and Mr. Bush, on leave from the Navy, married in Rye on Jan. 6, 1945; the bride, not yet 20, had dropped out of Smith at the beginning of her sophomore year. “The truth is, I just wasn’t interested,” she said in interviews. “I was just interested in George.”

Barbara Pierce Bush delivers the Commencement Address at Wellesley College. Delivered 1 June 1990.

Barbara Bush delivered her speech to a less than thrilled audience as the liberal arts all women’s college had wanted another speaker. Little did they realize that she would win them over and give them pearls of wisdom they would use the rest of their lives. Barbara’s comments at the 9:36 mark of the video brought down the house!

George W. Bush  discussed how lucky he was to have Barbara as his mother:

“Laura, Barbara, Jenna, and I are are sad, but our souls are settled because we know hers was,” George W. Bush said. “Barbara Bush was a fabulous First Lady and a woman unlike any other who brought levity, love, and literacy to millions. To us she was so much more.”

“Mom kept us on our toes and kept us laughing until the end,” George W. Bush said. “I’m a lucky man that Barbara Bush was my mother. Our family will miss her dearly, and we thank you all for your prayers and good wishes.”

Former President Jimmy Carter paid tribute to Barbara Bush’s “warmth, generosity and keen wit” following the former first lady’s death.

Carter says Bush was “the matriarch of a family dedicated to serving.” In a statement, he says that through Bush’s “work to promote literacy as a value in every American home, countless families now have the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in all aspects of their lives.”

Carter says he and former first lady Rosalynn Carter are saddened by her death and they’ll miss her.

2013 C-SPAN First Ladies interview, Barbara Bush: “I have no fear of death, which is a huge comfort because we’re getting darn close.”