Barbara Bush Passes Away [Addendum by JVW]
[guest post by Dana]
“A former first lady of the United States of America and relentless proponent of family literacy, Barbara Pierce Bush passed away Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at the age of 92,” reads a statement from the office of former President George H.W. Bush.
Mrs. Bush served as the country’s first lady from 1989 to 1993. She passed away shortly after deciding to forgo further medical treatments for her failing health.
Her funeral will be held at St. Martin’s Church in Houston, when she and the former president have been devoted members for decades.
She had been battling various illness, including congestive heart failure and pulmonary disease, and just this past Sunday her office released a statement saying that Mrs. Bush would no longer be seeking medical treatment but rather comfort care instead.
Mrs. Bush was sharp woman who knew, really knew what mattered most in this life:
“At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal,” she said. “You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent.”
One of the most powerful glimpses into the strength and grace of Barbara Bush came when she wrote about the passing of her daughter Pauline Robinson “Robin” Bush who died of leukemia in 1953 at 3 years old:
“Eventually the medicine that was controlling the leukemia caused other terrible problems. We called George, and by the time he got there after flying all night, our baby was in a coma. Her death was very peaceful. One minute she was there, and the next she was gone. I truly felt her soul go out of that beautiful little body. For one last time I combed her hair, and we held our precious little girl. I never felt the presence of God more strongly than at that moment.”
Now Barbara Bush is not only in the presence of God, but she is also reunited with her beloved Robin. May God give the surviving Bush family members, especially George H.W. Bush, her husband of 72 years, the peace and comfort that passes all understanding.
I’l leave you with a sample of Mrs. Bush’s wit from last month’s Smith College alumnae magazine:
“I have had great medical care and more operations than you would believe. I’m not sure God will recognize me; I have so many new body parts!”
You can read some of the many tributes to Mrs. Bush here.
(PS: If you have nothing nice to say, just don’t say anything.)
–Dana
[ADDENDUM by JVW]
I think that for the very first time ever, all three of us (Patterico, Dana, and I) independently composed posts on Mrs. Bush’s passing. I won’t put mine up, but I wanted to add this little bit from it, since it is my favorite memory of her:
When I was finishing my sophomore year, Mrs. Bush was invited to give the commencement address at Wellesley College. Many members of the faculty and the graduating class complained, reasoning that Mrs. Bush was a poor role model for young feminists because she left Smith without a degree in order to marry the future forty-first President. Even in the days before social media, the complaints still managed to attract national attention, and in a foreshadowing of what has since come to be commonplace, there soon emerged a pretty strong divide between those siding with the protesters and those who found the complaint to be at best specious and at worst patronizing in an entirely unearned manner. The Wellesley administration manfully soldiered on and refused to disinvite Mrs. Bush from speaking. After meeting with some of the protesting students to partially defuse the situation (disclosure: I knew one of the young ladies who was a protest leader), Mrs. Bush gave a speech that offered a full-defense of life as a wife and mother — a speech that it is almost impossible to imagine anyone having the guts to make on any college campus outside of Liberty or Ave Maria or Hillsdale or maybe BYU in this day and age:
For several years you’ve had impressed upon you the importance to your career of dedication and hard work, and of course that’s true. But as important as your obligations as a doctor, a lawyer, a business leader will be, you are a human being first and those human connections with spouses, with children, with friends are the most important investment you will ever make.
At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent.
Having been told by the protesters that she wasn’t worthy of addressing them at this important event, Mrs. Bush gently yet deftly won most of them over with her wit and charm. After first acknowledging that she wasn’t their first choice — “Now I know your first choice today was Alice Walker — guess how I know? Known for The Color Purple. Instead, you got me, known for the color of my hair!” — she closed her speech with a perfectly-delivered one-liner which dominated the next news cycle and reminded everyone that Barbara Bush was a formidable adversary:
– JVW
Staying married for 72 years is no small feat indeed. This must be devastating for GW Bush, in spite of knowing the inevitability of one of the passing first.
Dana (023079) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:12 pmi don’t think they were married the same way you think of married
happyfeet (28a91b) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:14 pmAccording to the Trump White House, she passed a year ago- Trump’s WH rlesed a condolence statement that is dated April 17, 2017.
Nothing like making America Grate Again.
http://www.pedestrian.tv/news/barbara-bush-donald-trump-statement
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:15 pmI think that for the very first time ever, all three of us (Patterico, Dana, and I) independently composed posts on Mrs. Bush’s passing. I won’t put mine up, but I wanted to add this little bit from it as an addendum, since it is my favorite memory of her.
JVW (42615e) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:21 pmYou should post it, JVW. Seriously. Like My Fair Lady, she had a good run.
How could anyone not like her. She stood by her man. And baked cookies.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:21 pmand drank bourbon
happyfeet (28a91b) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:23 pmThere is an official memorial site here: http://www.barbarapbush.com/
Mrs. Bush loved her family, and her country, with all her heart.
Dave (445e97) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:27 pmThe only other thing from my post which is worth mentioning here, is that for as much as I bitch and moan about the New York Times, they do sometimes produce some excellent obituaries. I think one of the reasons for this, from what I have been told, is that cub reporters fresh out of college are assigned to write them (usually years in advance so they can be kept on ice until they are needed), and that new reporters are less likely to bring in their own ideological baggage and more likely to work hard on the piece in order to impress their bosses. In any case, the NYT obituary on Barbara Bush is well worth reading.
JVW (42615e) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:28 pmThe NYT obituary also puts to rest the stupid rumor that Barbara Bush was privately quite outspoken about being in favor of abortion rights. Apparently Mrs. Bush kept her opinions to herself and — contra the claims of the Planned Parenthood crowd — did not divulge her thoughts about the matter to close friends.
JVW (42615e) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:29 pmShe was 92. The Greeks would say: May we all reach her years. May she rest in peace.
nk (dbc370) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:30 pmnevertheless what you can also know for sure is that Melania’s NYT obit’s already written and it’s mean and catty like how an fbi director would do it
happyfeet (28a91b) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:31 pmnevertheless what you can also know for sure is that Melania’s NYT obit’s already written and it’s mean and catty. . .
Of this I have very little doubt.
JVW (42615e) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:34 pmVery moving, Dana and JVW. A steely tough, lovely woman. An American through and through.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:36 pm1.Staying married for 72 years is no small feat indeed. This must be devastating for GW Bush, in spite of knowing the inevitability of one of the passing first.
Keep thinking of the 19-plus moves she managed for the family, too. We did 11 and the novelty of it wears off fast.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:38 pmShe and her daughter-in-law are my favorite First Ladies of all time. I used to see her from time to time, after she & Bush-41 left the White House, having barbecue ribs in the back room at Otto’s on Memorial Drive (accompanied by gentlemen wearing dark windbreakers in Houston’s August heat). Otto’s patrons knew better than to bother them anyway; they were always among friends.
Growing up in west Texas, an hour’s drive from where she & Poppy reared Dubya and the rest of their family at about the same time, I knew countless moms and housewives exactly like her, for all important purposes anyway. Our families were and are lucky to have them. Most of them, I’ll bet, would have tried to exhibit the same fierce loyalty and consistent dignity that she, did if they’d been thrust under an international spotlight, but she & Laura both made it look easy.
May she rest in peace.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:43 pm@9. In clip on the TV obit on ABC News she acknowledged being pro-choice to Barbra Wa-Wa in an interview. Not that it matters anymore. Just sad to see a strong and good person pass having broken into the 90’s.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:43 pmin my experience most women what came of age when abortion was illegal and back-alleyed are pro-choice cause they know what that means
happyfeet (28a91b) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:45 pmI doubt anyone will have a bad word to say about Mrs Bush. Gracious, polite, but with unmistakable principles. Everything contemporary politics is not…
http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV198.html
Kishnevi (5a999e) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:47 pmAnd if she’d been inclined to it — she wan’t, but if — she’d have been a damn sight finer POTUS than Hillary Clinton ever dreamed of being.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:50 pmRIP – Class act all the way.
Being selected to give the commencement speech was only controversial to the small-minded. The braying herd have no clue what an accomplished woman is.
harkin (379712) — 4/17/2018 @ 7:50 pmKeep thinking of the 19-plus moves she managed for the family, too. We did 11 and the novelty of it wears off fast.
The NYT obit says the number was 26 — before they even reached the White House. Astounding!
JVW (42615e) — 4/17/2018 @ 8:13 pmIn clip on the TV obit on ABC News she acknowledged being pro-choice to Barbra Wa-Wa in an interview.
Well that’s interesting. I wonder how the NYT obit compilers missed that bit. Maybe the only time they have ever erred in a pro-life direction.
JVW (42615e) — 4/17/2018 @ 8:15 pmFor the media to portray a commencement speech by the wife of a sitting president as anything besides an incredible honor…
papertiger (c8116c) — 4/17/2018 @ 8:16 pm@21. NBC reported it tonight as 29, too. Can’t even grasp that number let along 26 – or 19. Back in that era – even for the corporate oil business heydays of the late 40s, 50s and 60s- families were uprooted and moving all the time all over, akin to military transfers. And it was always the wife/mother left to manage the ‘wrap and pack’ while the husband/father went ahead to the new gig. We’d gotten it down to a system as kids where we could box up our ‘world’ for a move in about 72 hours. 11 was enough for us. But 29… geez, that’s just incredible with a family and growing kids. Past a certain age you don’t miss it at all.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/17/2018 @ 9:13 pmInevitably, she was to be blamed for her son’s decision making:
Dana (023079) — 4/17/2018 @ 10:04 pmHere.
Dana (023079) — 4/17/2018 @ 10:06 pmWhat I love about being an American and my freedom of speech is that I can say “Who cares what some fat raghead cow at some cow college tweets?”
nk (dbc370) — 4/17/2018 @ 10:15 pm27 .”What I love about being an American and my freedom of speech is that I can say “Who cares what some fat raghead cow at some cow college tweets?””
Depending on where you work, in today’s America that tweet could get you fired.
harkin (379712) — 4/18/2018 @ 7:53 amIt’s interesting that the only people who seem to think we should disrespect Barbara Bush are the SJWs and….Roger Stone….
https://www.thewrap.com/roger-stone-barbara-bush-was-a-nasty-drunk/
kishnevi (aaa345) — 4/18/2018 @ 9:58 amThis is not teh first time I read siomething like thast and then you read the person died within afew days.
She was completely alert until right before. This makes sense only one way:
She was almost certainly killed by an opioid overdose.
That’s why it was so peaceful.
But she probably didn’ty intend to commit suicide or receive euthanasia.
The error, if error it was, was in assuming the body would metabolize morphine, or some other opiod, at the usual rate, but her pain was probably caused by the liver failing which caused tissue in the body to be broken down, including tissue protecting nerves, in order to create liver enzymes.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 4/18/2018 @ 9:59 amMy mother stopped receiving treatment other than pain relief two weeks before she passed from lung cancer (she was a non-smoker) and we cared for her at home.
She wasn’t knocking back bourbon on her deathbed, she was sucking water and orange juice from a small sponge (easier to swallow) but she did sneak in to the laundry room to grab some stuff out of the dryer and fold it a couple days before she died, that’s how she was wired.
harkin (379712) — 4/18/2018 @ 10:19 amAnd the leftists still find a way to bash Trump!
Rev.Hoagie (1b0402) — 4/18/2018 @ 10:42 amVery demeaning, DCSCA. And unnecessary. You make a deal out of a typo while spelling released “rleased” ala Obummer’s “Respct”?
31. harkin (379712) — 4/18/2018 @ 10:19 am
Was that because she felt that way herself, or was that doctor’s orders, on the theory that the water in the lungs came from water going down the wrong tube? (it actually came from a problem with osmosis)
I think with some things we are still in the dark ages of medicine.
At least the doctors didn’t try to stop you from giving her water by mouth. Or did they, and was that a concession?
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 4/18/2018 @ 10:50 amIt’s not early January anymore.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 4/18/2018 @ 10:52 amTill now there was a whole group of people in their 90s still alive:
Former President George Bush and his wife Barbara Bush
Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalyn Carter
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
Former Secretary of State George Shultz
Bob Dole.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 4/18/2018 @ 10:57 am“Was that because she felt that way herself, or was that doctor’s orders, on the theory that the water in the lungs came from water going down the wrong tube? (it actually came from a problem with osmosis)“
It was at the suggestion of our Hospice RN, only during the final days when Mom was pretty much out of it, to prevent the choking she was starting to experience while drinking. They worked great.
They were sponges on sticks that looked like lollipops and they were a godsend. Apparently sucking on the sponge somehow helped direct it down the correct pipe.
—-
I have to add that the folks at Valley Hospice were absolute gold, nurses, assistants, everyone. Mom worked as a volunteer at a hospice here in CA for over 20 years and the help came full circle.
harkin (8faec6) — 4/18/2018 @ 11:53 am@32. Very demeaning.
Yes– Trump is, Hoagie. Hourly.
Fine. Will take flack for my own wifi hiccups– because given your condition, it makes you feel better. When you work at the WH at that level and publish something- electronically or in print, you’re expected to get it right. And if you aren’t aware of it, Trump’s WH has published a helluva lot of these kind of screw-ups- both in text and in photos. Because, you know, he hires ‘the best.’
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/18/2018 @ 12:10 pmBarbara Bush Passes Away Surrounded By Loved Ones, Jeb
happyfeet (28a91b) — 4/18/2018 @ 1:06 pmThe WiFi hiccups ate my homework.
harkin (8faec6) — 4/18/2018 @ 1:58 pm@39.You too, eh. Strong, breaking winds, nationwide.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/18/2018 @ 2:01 pmYou used the ‘wifi hiccup’ card for a typo dood.
Most save it for something a little more serious:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbCNZLUVMAAdKts?format=jpg
harkin (379712) — 4/18/2018 @ 3:13 pm@41. LOL that’s less breaking winds and merely hot air.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/18/2018 @ 3:47 pmRest in peace.
things to do (75838c) — 4/18/2018 @ 11:51 pm
Rev.Hoagie (1b0402) — 4/19/2018 @ 5:05 am“Trump’s White House” are just regular folks working for a living. And guess what? They’re human and make mistakes. Don’t you? It’s just yours are not as visible. BTW, Everyone thinks they hire “the best”. Or do you hang with people who ask “Can you refer me to the worst lawyer”?
I was hoping to be the first to tell you your faith in people is misplaced, but I see others have already jumped on this.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 4/21/2018 @ 7:25 pm