Former First Lady Barbara Bush has passed away at age 92. The news was confirmed by ABC News and arrives not long after Bush family spokesperson Jim McGrath declared that she’d no longer be seeking medical attention for multiple health conditions, including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and congestive heart failure. She is survived by her husband, ex-President George H.W. Bush, son ex-President George W. Bush, four other children (Jeb Bush, Dorothy Bush Koch, Neil Bush, and Marvin Bush), and many grandchildren. She is preceded in death by daughter Robin Bush, who passed away in 1953.
A statement from the office of former President George H.W. Bush read as follows:
“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.”
In January 2017, the health of both George Sr. and Barbara came into public concern when the two were simultaneously hospitalized, with the latter suffering from fatigue and other symptoms. Since then and as McGrath indicated, Barbara has suffered from a “recent series of hospitalizations” (most recently on Good Friday while suffering from shortness of breath), and while she decided against further treatment, she has also been “a rock in the face of her failing health” while continuing to worry and care for others, rather than herself.
Bush attended Smith College and married George Sr. in 1945 while he was on leave as a World War II Navy torpedo bomber pilot. During her four years as First Lady (1989-1993), she made the promotion of universal literacy her primary cause, although she also devoted her patronage to several other causes, including AIDS, the homeless, and school volunteer programs. After leaving the White House, she chaired the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy until 2012.
(Via ABC & WhiteHouse.gov)