Barbara Bush

Barbara Bush

Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was the wife of U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush. She served as First Lady of the United States from 1989 through 1993 and as Second Lady (wife of the Vice President) from 1981 through 1989.

Early life and education

Born Barbara Pierce in New York City, she grew up in Rye, New York.

Marriage and family

She and Bush became engaged in 1943 and married in January 1945. She is mother to former President George W. Bush, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Neil Bush, Marvin Bush, Dorothy Bush, and Pauline Bush, who died at the age of four from leukemia. George W. Bush's daughter Barbara Pierce Bush is named for her grandmother.

After the White House

Barbara Bush lives with her husband in Houston, Texas.

Rarely has a First Lady been greeted by the American people and the press with the approbation and warmth accorded to Barbara Pierce Bush. Perhaps this is prompted by the image she calls "everybody's grandmother." People are comfortable with her white hair, her warm, relaxed manner, and her keen wit. With characteristic directness, she says people like her because they know "I'm fair and I like children and I adore my husband."

Death at 92

Mrs. Bush died in her home in Houston at the age of ninety-two just a few days after she announced that she would no longer seek medical treatment for her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, and Graves' disease. Instead, she would accept only "comfort care."

References

• Bush, George. All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.