Dorothy Walker Bush

Dorothy Walker Bush

Dorothy Bush with Prescott in 1952
Born Dorothy Wear Walker
July 1, 1901(1901-07-01)
York County, Maine
Died November 19, 1992(1992-11-19) (aged 91)
Greenwich, Connecticut
Education Miss Porter's School
Spouse Prescott Sheldon Bush
Children Prescott Bush, Jr.
George H. W. Bush
Nancy Bush
Jonathan Bush
William H.T. Bush
Parents George Herbert Walker
Lucretia Wear

Dorothy Wear Walker Bush (July 1, 1901 – November 19, 1992), mother to 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, and the grandmother of 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.[1] Time on her death wrote that "George (H.W.) Bush was shaped and tempered by his mother's nature."[2] Dorothy Bush raised her five children in a strongly religious home. During her childhood she attended church as many as three times each Sunday.[3]

Biography

She was born near Walker's Point, in York County, Maine, to George Herbert Walker and Lucretia "Loulie" (Wear) Walker (1874–1961).[4][5]

Walker attended Miss Porter's School and married Prescott Sheldon Bush on August 6, 1921, in Kennebunkport, Maine. They had five children: Prescott "Pressy" Bush, Jr. (1922–2010), George H. W. Bush (1924; (named after Dorothy's father, George Herbert Walker), Nancy Bush (1926), Jonathan Bush (1931), and William "Bucky" Bush (1938).[4][5]

Lucretia Wear was descended from French Huguenots (Gabriel and Marie Hersent Maupin) who arrived in America in 1700.

Dorothy Walker died at age 91 in Greenwich, Connecticut, on November 19, 1992, only 16 days after her son lost the 1992 presidential election to Bill Clinton. She is interred with her husband Prescott Bush at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich, Connecticut.[5]

Family

References

  1. ^ Wead, Doug (2005). The Raising of a President: The Mothers and Fathers of Our Nation's Leaders.. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743497260. http://books.google.com/books?id=9EeRFIM53lYC&pg=PA411&lpg=PA411&dq=%22dorothy+walker+bush%22. 
  2. ^ Sidey, Hugh (November 30, 1992). "The Presidency.". Time (magazine). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,977128,00.html. Retrieved 2007-11-20. "George Bush was shaped and tempered by his mother's nature. His was a soul finally formed by strata of love and discipline relentlessly laid down. Bush was lucky, so very lucky, to be rooted in a woman like Dorothy Walker Bush, who died last week at 91." 
  3. ^ "Dorothy W. Bush, Mother of President, Dies at 91.". New York Times. November 20, 1992. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3DE113BF933A15752C1A964958260. Retrieved 2007-11-20. "Dorothy Walker Bush, the mother of President Bush, died shortly after 5 P.M. yesterday at the family's house in Greenwich, Connecticut, after suffering a stroke. She was 91 years old. ... Mrs. Bush also reared her children in a strongly religious home, a reflection of her own childhood during which she is said to have attended church as many as three times every Sunday." 
  4. ^ a b Philadelphia, Desa (August 7, 2000). "The Family Tree.". Time (magazine). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,997685-1,00.html. Retrieved 2007-11-20. "The most competitive Bush, she bred in her children the drive to win and the rule never to brag about it. While in the White House, her son called her every day." 
  5. ^ a b c "Dorothy Walker Bush Dies at Age 91; President's Mother, 'Righteous Lady'.". Washington Post. November 20, 1992. "The wife of a senator, Mrs. Bush lived to see her son inaugurated the 41st president of the United States. Seated on the inaugural platform four years ago, she smiled as he bent to kiss her and tell reporters, 'Many of our family are here, and they all, as does this son, worship the ground she walks on.'"