Edited By: Joy Jiang
On Tuesday, April 17th, former first lady Barbara Bush passed away at the age of 92. Over the weekend, the Bush family announced that Mrs Bush had been in failing health and had decided not to seek further medical treatment. Her husband and five of her children survive her.
Barbara Bush was married to President George H.W. Bush and the couple had just celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary, making them the longest-married presidential couple. She was also the mother of President George W. Bush, making her one of only two women to be both wife and mother to an American president. The only other woman to hold such a title was Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams. Unlike Mrs Adams, Mrs Bush was alive to experience both her husband and son’s terms as president. Her soft yet quick-witted demeanour characterized Mrs Bush’s presence through both her husband and son’s terms.
In 1990, Mrs Bush gave a speech at Wellesley College, a speech rated by survey scholars in 1999 as being one of the top 100 speeches of the century. In her speech, Mrs Bush told graduates, “Cherish your human connections. 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.”
Mrs Bush was the mother of six children and will be laid to rest beside her three-year-old son who died of leukemia in 1953.