On April 17, Former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away at the age of 92 in Houston, Texas because of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease. Many mourn her death and celebrate what she did in her lifetime.

Barbara Bush was born on June 8,1925 in New York City. She spent her early life in New York where she developed a love for reading. Her father, Marvin Pierce, was the president of the McCall Corporation which published well-known magazines. Bush did most of her schooling in New York and later attended Ashley Hall, a boarding school in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 1941, she met her future husband, George H.W. Bush at a high school dance. George was finishing high school and immediately served in the military as a pilot during World War 2. While serving in the military, he maintained a long distance relationship with Barbara. In 1944, while he was overseas, she dropped out of Smith College her freshman year. A year later, she and George got married and in January and moved to New Haven, Connecticut where George enrolled in Yale University.

The couple had five, three boys and two girls, children throughout their marriage. One child, George Walker Bush, later became president of the following his father’s footsteps. Unfortunately, they lost their first daughter when she was young to leukemia. According to an article on biography.com, the death of their daughter left ” Barbara and her husband devastated.” Bush had her last child in 1959 and focused on “primarily dedicating her time to being a wife and mother.”

Eventually, the family  moved to Midland, Texas and was involved in the oil business. Barbara helped her husband build his political career with the Republican party. He was eventually elected into congress in 1966. This resulted in the Bush family moving to Washington, D.C. the following year. Throughout George’s pre-presidential career, she stood by her husband’s side and helped him by giving him advice on political moves which gave him a lot of success.

In 1981, her husband became the vice president under President Ronald Reagan. He served with President Reagan for both of his terms. At the end of his second term, she helped her husband run his campaign for President. In 1989, she became the First Lady of the United States. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease. Luckily, her illness did not stop her from her work. According to biography.com, “The first lady started her own literacy organization, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which supports organizations across the United States that teach reading skills to both parents and children. ” She also wrote a book that raised a lot of money for literacy programs across the country. 

Barbara continued to stand by and support her husband side through the turmoil of the Cold War.  Unfortunately, near the end of Bush’s first term there was an economic slump and left many of the country in anger. This led to his lost against Bill Clinton when running for his second term in 1993. That led the Bush family to moved back to Texas and help their children with their political careers. According to biography.com, “After her White House years, Barbara redoubled her dedication to public service. She continued her commitment to literacy projects, raising millions of dollars for the cause.”