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For George Bush, One Last Funeral, and Then a 70-Mile Train Ride For George Bush, One Last Funeral, and Then a 70-Mile Train Ride
(about 3 hours later)
HOUSTON — Seven months ago, hundreds of people filled St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston to say goodbye to Barbara Bush. On Thursday, they returned to St. Martin’s once more to remember her husband — the 41st president of the United States. HOUSTON — In a more intimate and Texas-tinged gathering, at the same church where his wife of 73 years was eulogized just seven months ago, former President George Bush was remembered Thursday morning for his humility, decency and devotion to his family and his country.
The funeral on Thursday morning for former President George Bush, which began with the singing of “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies,” was one of the final events in what has become an extraordinary moment of national mourning. The ceremony in Houston, held the day after Mr. Bush’s state funeral at Washington National Cathedral, unfolded at a church not far from the home he shared with his wife of 73 years, who died in April at the age of 92. Nearly 1,000 relatives, friends and dignitaries from the worlds of politics, sports, business and entertainment filled St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, as they had in April for the funeral for Barbara Bush, who was 92 when she died. The funeral on Thursday for Mr. Bush, who died last week at the age of 94, was one of the final events in what has become an extraordinary moment of national mourning for the 41st president.
The Bushes both died at home, surrounded by relatives and close friends and mourned by members of both parties as embodiments of a more genial era of American politics. Eight of his grandsons led the military pallbearers who carried Mr. Bush’s coffin into the church, and later his eldest grandson — George P. Bush, the Texas land commissioner — spoke in a touching eulogy of his grandfather’s horseshoe games with the family and the Secret Service, and of how it had been “the honor of a lifetime to share his name.” Mr. Bush’s friends and relatives described a man who walked softly through the postwar pages of American history, who was defined by service to others and who, one cold day in Houston, gave a young coatless usher at St. Martin’s the coat off his back.
About 1,200 guests were invited to the funeral Thursday, and eulogists included James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state and Mr. Bush’s longtime friend in Houston. “His wish for a kinder, gentler nation was not a cynical political slogan: It came honest and unguarded from his soul,” James A. Baker III, Mr. Bush’s longtime friend of more than 60 years, said in a eulogy.
“He was not considered a skilled speaker,” Mr. Baker said, “but his deeds were quite eloquent and he demonstrated their eloquence by carving them into the hard granite of history. They expressed his moral character, and they reflected his decency.” Mr. Baker — who also served as secretary of state and White House chief of staff in the Bush administration and ran both of his presidential campaigns — fought back tears at the end of his remarks, as he called Mr. Bush his role model and described their spirited debates, which usually ended amicably and humorously.
After the funeral, Mr. Bush’s coffin was scheduled to travel by train in the afternoon to College Station, Tex., where the former president was to be buried on the grounds of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum at Texas A&M University — next to Mrs. Bush and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia at the age of 3 in 1953. “But he had a very effective way of letting me know when the discussion was over,” Mr. Baker said. “He would look at me and he would say, ‘Baker, if you’re so smart, why am I the president and you’re not?’”
After the funeral, Mr. Bush’s coffin traveled by train to College Station, Tex., where the former president was to be buried on the grounds of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum at Texas A&M University — next to Mrs. Bush and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia in 1953 when she was 3 years old.
[Read: The nation bade farewell at Mr. Bush’s funeral in Washington.][Read: The nation bade farewell at Mr. Bush’s funeral in Washington.]
“You keep hearing people say it’s the end of an era, and in some ways that may be true,” said the couple’s pastor in Houston, the Rev. Russell J. Levenson Jr. “But in other ways, I think we’re being invited to consider his life as an invitation to continue that era. I realized, both for Barbara and for George, that in many ways they were just like everybody else, which is the way in which they lived their lives, and it’s the way in which they came to the end of life.” On Wednesday, President Trump sat at the front of Washington National Cathedral with all four living former presidents at Mr. Bush’s state funeral, joined by thousands of foreign leaders, lawmakers, diplomats and other officials. In Houston, it was a much smaller tribute, in large part for the Bush family and their friends and supporters in Texas, at the church Mr. and Mrs. Bush had attended for more than 50 years. Mr. Trump did not attend, nor did any other former presidents except for Mr. Bush’s son, George W. Bush.
Mr. Levenson is the rector of St. Martin’s, and was with both Mr. and Mrs. Bush as each passed away. Amid the pageantry and prayers, and the anthems sung by St. Martin’s choir, there was a distinct country twang to the ceremony, an homage to the adopted state of the Connecticut-raised former president. The Oak Ridge Boys, a country group that first sang for Mr. Bush in 1983 when he was vice president, sang “Amazing Grace” a cappella. Reba McEntire sang “The Lord’s Prayer.” Numerous Texas figures filled the pews. There were actors (Chuck Norris), baseball Hall of Famers (Nolan Ryan) and business leaders (Tilman Fertitta). There were current and retired football, basketball and baseball stars, including J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans, Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros and Dikembe Mutombo and Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets.
The back-to-back funerals and burials, months apart, signaled the closing of a chapter of Texas history, as the family whose name has become synonymous with the state’s politics marked the passing of its patriarch and matriarch. Mr. Bush, a World War II aviator from the East Coast, came to Texas in the summer of 1948 to make a name for himself in the oil business, driving to the West Texas town of Odessa in a red two-door Studebaker. Seventy years after that trip, Mr. Bush’s funeral train took him on one last journey through the state, this time in a Union Pacific locomotive. The train, named Union Pacific 4141, traveled 70 miles through Magnolia, Navasota and other small towns, led by a 4,300-horsepower locomotive painted blue, gray and white to echo the colors of Air Force One. Members of the Bush family were on board.
Mr. Bush, a World War II aviator from the East Coast, came to Texas in the summer of 1948 to make a name for himself in the oil business, driving to the West Texas town of Odessa in a red two-door Studebaker. It was a fateful trip that would, in hindsight, shape Texas politics for decades to come. Mr. Bush would go on to become a local Republican Party leader in Houston, a Texas congressman and the 41st president. In more recent times, he was the father of a Texas governor and future president, George W. Bush, and the grandfather of the state’s land commissioner, George P. Bush, the other eulogist to speak at St. Martin’s on Thursday.
Seventy years after that trip in the Studebaker, Mr. Bush’s funeral train will take him on one last journey through the state on Thursday, this time in a Union Pacific locomotive. The train, named Union Pacific 4141, will travel 70 miles through Magnolia, Navasota and other small towns, led by a 4,300-horsepower locomotive painted blue, gray and white in homage to the colors of Air Force One. Members of the Bush family will be on board.
[Read: George W. Bush’s eulogy for his father.][Read: George W. Bush’s eulogy for his father.]
Arranged for a man who had been America’s oldest living ex-president, Mr. Bush’s locomotive procession will give his long-planned memorial services a throwback touch, evoking the presidential funeral trains for Abraham Lincoln in 1865, Franklin Roosevelt in 1945 and Dwight Eisenhower in 1969. The train ride from his Houston funeral to his College Station burial was his idea, organizers said. Arranged for a man who had been America’s oldest living ex-president, Mr. Bush’s locomotive procession gave his long-planned memorial services a throwback touch, evoking the presidential funeral trains for Abraham Lincoln in 1865, Franklin Roosevelt in 1945 and Dwight Eisenhower in 1969. The train ride from his Houston funeral to his College Station burial was his idea, organizers said.
The train itself was unveiled in 2005. Mr. and Mrs. Bush toured it at an event held at Texas A&M, posing for pictures in which they peeked out of the window of the cab, above the side emblazoned with “4141.” Inside the cab, Union Pacific officials, including Mike Iden, then an engineering executive for the company, explained to Mr. Bush how the train operated.The train itself was unveiled in 2005. Mr. and Mrs. Bush toured it at an event held at Texas A&M, posing for pictures in which they peeked out of the window of the cab, above the side emblazoned with “4141.” Inside the cab, Union Pacific officials, including Mike Iden, then an engineering executive for the company, explained to Mr. Bush how the train operated.
“It was at that point that President Bush said, ‘Can I take this for a drive? Can I run it?’” Mr. Iden, now retired, recalled in a Union Pacific video. Mr. Bush, he said, climbed into the engineer’s seat and got a brief tutorial.“It was at that point that President Bush said, ‘Can I take this for a drive? Can I run it?’” Mr. Iden, now retired, recalled in a Union Pacific video. Mr. Bush, he said, climbed into the engineer’s seat and got a brief tutorial.
Then, for about two short miles, he took his funeral train out for a spin.Then, for about two short miles, he took his funeral train out for a spin.