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- First Lady of the United States.
Born Barbara Pierce, the third of four children of Pauline Robinson and Marvin Pierce, a publisher, in New York City.
She attended the prestigious Ashley Hall boarding school in Charleston, South Carolina and while at home for Christmas vacation in 1941 met George Bush at a dance at Round Hill Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. The pair corresponded after their return to school, and were engaged before he deployed to the South Pacific. She dropped out of Smith College in 1944 following her freshman year, and they married in January 1945 while he was on leave.
They set up housekeeping in New Haven, Connecticut, while her husband attended Yale University. Their first child, George Walker, was born in 1946. In September 1949, her parents were involved in a automobile accident when her mother was killed. Her next child, Pauline Robinson Bush, was named in honor of her mother. At the age of 3, however, Robin succumbed to leukemia, leaving her parents devastated. The trauma of the loss was said to have caused her hair to turn prematurely white. Four more children followed, John Ellis called Jeb in 1953, Neil Mallon in 1955, Marvin Pierce in 1956, and Dorothy in 1959. The couple eventually settled in Midland, Texas, after her husband entered the oil industry.
When her husband opted to enter politics, she went on the campaign trail as well. In 1966, her husband was elected to Congress for the first time, and the family moved to Washington, D.C. In 1969, she wrote a column for a Houston newspaper about life in Washington. In August 1974, Bush was appointed U.S. Liaison Office to China, and she joined him at his new post where she immersed herself in the culture and studied the language. When in 1975 Bush was asked to head the CIA, she voiced concerns that such a post would be detrimental to his career.
Her husband's career, however flourished, he became Vice President in 1981, and as the Vice President's wife she threw herself into the advancement of literacy projects. The profits earned by her first book, 'C. Fred's Story ' (1984), were donated to literacy charities. She became First Lady of the United States in 1988. That same year she was diagnosed with Graves Disease. She continued her duties even as she underwent radiation treatments.
In 1989 she established the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Her 'Millie's Book' (1990) earned her foundation more than $1 million dollars in sales. After leaving the White House, she published an autobiography, 'Barbara Bush: A Memoir' in 1994. She was active in the campaigns of her son, Jeb, for the governorship of Florida, and her son George's run for the presidency in 2000. A second autobiography, 'Reflections: Life After the White House,' was published in 2004. A 2014 Gallup poll showed her as the favorite among former First Ladies with a favorable rating of 67 percent.
Her health faltered in her final two years as she battled congestive heart failure and pulmonary disease. She eventually opted to forgo further treatment and remain in her home with her family, and she succumbed at age 92.
Bio by: Iola
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1925 - 2018 (92 years)
