Barbara Bush, Former First Lady, Dies At Her Houston Home

HOUSTON, TX — Former first lady Barbara Bush passed away at her Houston home Tuesday evening surrounded by her family. She was 92.

Her death comes just two days after the family made a public statement that she would forego any further medical treatment and live out her days in the comfort of her River Oaks estate.

Barbara Bush, who was only the second woman to be the wife of a U.S. president and the mother of another, had a likability that transcended generations and crossed party lines. She was a quick-witted mother and grandmother, an advocate for literacy and the solid oak foundation for a family deep-rooted in American politics and history.

She was born Barbara Pierce in Manhattan, New York, and grew up in the New York City suburb of Rye. While on Christmas vacation with her family when she was 16, she went to a dance, where she met a young guy named George H.W. Bush, who was a student at Phillips Academy in Massachusetts.

Bush courted Barbara for about a year and a half before they got engaged. But those plans got put on hold while he went to fight in World War II as a Navy torpedo bomber pilot. He named his three planes Barbara, Barbara II and Barbara III.

Bush returned home on leave around Christmas and New Year in late 1944, and the couple got married Jan. 6, 1945 at the First Presbyterian Church in Rye.

The couple moved all around as George kept getting shipped to various duty stations. They had six children over the next 13 years, the first was George W. Bush in 1946. Pauline Robinson “Robin” Bush was born in 1949 but died from leukemia in 1953. Jeb Bush was born in 1953, Neil Bush in 1955, Marvin Bush in 1956 and Dorothy Bush (Koch) in 1959.

The family moved to Odessa, Texas, after George H.W. graduated from Yale University and went into the oil business. They moved to Los Angeles and then back to Midland, Texas by 1950. Barbara raised the children while her husband was typically away on business.

The Bush family moved to Houston in 1959, and Barbara soon began learning how to be a political wife as her husband was elected Harris County Republican Party chairman in 1963 and ran for U.S. Senate in 1964. The Bushes quickly became a political power couple, with Barbara standing strong and quiet by George’s side.

As George soared through the ranks in politics from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to Chairman of the Republican National Committee, head of the U.S. Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Barbara immersed herself in charities and special projects that piqued her interest.

In 1980, George was named the vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket with Ronald Reagan. After Reagan won the election, Barbara was thrust into the spotlight even more as the second lady for an eight-year span.

Though Barbara used this platform to take on literacy issues at a national level, she actually began her quest to improve literacy when one of her sons, Neil, was diagnosed with dyslexia. Barbara’s father, Marvin Pierce, had been president of McCall Corporation, the publisher of the popular women's magazines Redbook and McCall's. Needless to say, literacy ran in Barbara’s family blood.

During eight years as second lady, she studied illiteracy and its roots, and became a staunch fighter to prevent illiteracy. In 1984 she penned a children’s book entitled "C. Fred’s Story," which is the story of her family as told by the dog, C. Fred. She donated all proceeds from the book to literacy charities. She also had a book titled "Millie's Book," in which the White House dog Millie Bush recounts her adventures as First Canine in a tour of her famous residence alongside her equally famous owners.

She later created the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy when her husband was elected to be the 41st President of the United States. The goal of her foundation was to improve the lives of disadvantaged Americans by boosting literacy among parent and their children. The foundation has doled out more than $40 million to create or expand more than 1,500 literacy programs around the country.

"Focusing on the family is the best place to start to make this country more literate, and I still feel that being more literate will help us solve so many of the other problems facing our society," she wrote in 1994.

Barbara Bush is known for her white hair, quick wit and sharp tongue. Her hair started to grey in the 1950’s, and she preferred to let it naturally go white rather than dye it back to brown. Her husband, Bush 41, dubbed her the “Silver Fox.” And her bright white hair led her to become more affectionately known as “everybody’s grandmother.”

When Geraldine Ferraro was the vice presidential candidate for Walter Mondale on the 1984 Democratic ticket, Barbara told a reporter that Ferraro was a "$4 million — I can't say it — but it rhymes with rich." Bush later said she meant "witch" and apologized, which Ferraro accepted.

In George W. Bush’s book “Decision Points,” he stated he got his quick wit and temper from his mother, Barbara. George’s wife, Laura, said her soon-to-be mother-in-law "managed to insult nearly all of my friends with one or another perfectly timed acerbic comment."

Barbara began deteriorating in health in 2008 when she was hospitalized for abdominal pains and underwent small intestine surgery. She underwent aortic valve replacement surgery in 2009. She was in and out of hospitals the last 7-8 years, most notably with pneumonia on New Year's Eve 2013, and was released a few days later.

Her latest battles have come from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), and Grave's disease. On Sunday, April 15, 2018, a spokesman from her husband’s office stated Barbara would not seek any further medical treatment, but rather receive comfort care in her River Oaks home in the heart of Houston.

Barbara is survived by her husband of 73 years, George H.W. Bush, five children, 14 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Her services are pending at the time of this report.

Top Image: Former first lady Barbara Bush greets people at Barns and Noble in Washington during a meet and greet coinciding with the release of her new book 'Reflections: Life after the White House' December 12, 2003 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)