I’ve always admired Barbara Bush. What a strong, gracious woman—a former second lady, first lady, and mother of six children, one of them a president. Flags flew at half staff when she passed April 17 at age 92.
She left an amazing legacy. While her husband served 12 years as vice president and president, she established the Foundation for Family Literacy, wrote a children’s book, and raised $25 million to preserve the White House. After he left office, she published her memoir, then helped found the George and Barbara Bush Center at the University of New England’s Bitteford Campus and the George H.W. Bush Library at Texas A&M University. In addition, she actively supported the gubernatorial and presidential campaigns of two of their sons.
Battling Graves disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, she continued to further literacy and homeless programs, support the Junior League and the Daughters of the American Revolution, and spend quality time with her 14 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
A statement from her family before her death said, “It will not surprise those who know her that Barbara Bush has been a rock in the face of her failing health, worrying not for herself—thanks to her abiding faith—but for others.”
I would love to leave a legacy like that. Not necessarily one that includes buildings named after me, but one where my faith is so strong that I’m thinking of others, not myself, on my deathbed.
How would you like to be remembered?