A Tribute to Barbara Bush Who Dies at the Age of 92

As the curtain falls on the life of former US first lady Barbara Bush, let us celebrate her life by looking back at the wonderful work she has done for the society.

 

Barbara Bush was born in New York. Her mother was Pauline and her father was Marvin Pierce, who was the president of McCall Corporation, the publisher of the women’s magazines Redbook and McCall’s. Her early education was in Rye Country Day School and later she went to a boarding school, Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina. As a youngster, she was interested in athletics, swimming, tennis and bike riding. She grew up with her siblings -Martha, James, and Scott.

 

Barbara met George Bush at the age of 16 at one of the dances during the Christmas holidays. It was love at first for her. They were engaged a year and a half later, after which George Bush went off to World War II as a Navy pilot. On January 6, 1945, they were married and had six children. She raised her family in Texas as George Bush grew up in a political environment and the family became the most successful dynasty in US politics.

 

Barbara had the privilege of seeing her husband and son become the President of US. Her husband was in power from 1989 to 1993 and Bush junior was elected for two terms, in 2000 and 2004.

 

Barbara was a devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Family was very important to her. She was a symbol of a strong matriarch of the Bush family. In her own words, she was a “Nester”.

She had a tough mind and a sharp tongue. The image of Barbara with white hair and a multi-strand faux pearl necklace will be etched in everyone’s memory.

 

She was a proponent of family literacy and she founded the Barbara Bush foundation to promote Family Literacy. While speaking at Wellesley College in 1990, she said,“I chose literacy because I honestly believe that if more people could read, write and comprehend, we would be that much closer to solving so many of the problems that plague our nation and our society.”  Barbara was loved because even though she was the First Lady, she had no pretensions and was comfortable being a normal woman everyone could relate to. Her topmost priority was her family. In one of her speeches she had mentioned - motherhood in the 1950s and 1960s America – were of “long days and short years”, she said in a speech decades later, “of diapers, earaches, runny noses, more Little League games than you ever thought possible, visits to hospital emergency rooms, Sunday school and church”.

Barbara disliked to be within the confinement of the White House and she detested the loss of privacy, however, what she hated the most was the scrutiny and criticism of her husband as a President. She, however, stood by his side through thick and thin and never gave up.

Earlier this week, she refused all kinds of treatment and passed away leaving behind beautiful memories.

George W Bush said about his mother, “Barbara Bush was a fabulous First Lady and a woman unlike any other who brought levity, love, and literacy to millions.”

Tributes have poured in from different quarters.

Donald Trump and his wife Melania released a statement appreciating her work to promote literacy and called her “an advocate of the American family”. “She will long be remembered for her strong devotion to country and family, both of which she served well.”

 

Barack and Michelle Obama praised Ms. Bush “for the way she lived her life - as a testament to the fact that public service is an important and noble calling; as an example of the humanity and decency that reflects the very best of the American spirit”.

 

Barbara Bush, as your spirit leaves this realm to fly into the other, your footprints left behind will teach and lead the generations to come.