Irish tenor sang Silent Night to Bush as he slipped away

FORMER US president George H.W. Bush slipped into peaceful repose in the final hours of his life, serenaded by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan.

Bush’s friend, journalist Peter Baker, told the New York Times that when news reached Tynan that Mr Bush was unwell he had called to ask if he could drop by.

Baker arrived at the Texas house at 8.15pm, having been there earlier in the day, and told the US newspaper that Mr Tynan – who was there – was asked to sing to the ailing president.

According to the paper, Mr Tynan sang two songs: Silent Night, and another as Gaeilge.

As Mr Tynan sang Silent Night, Mr Baker said ‘the president was mouthing the words’. At 10:10 pm, the former president passed. Last night Bush’s granddaughter told how he had no fear of death because he’d be ‘reunited with the people I’ve lost’. Recalling their final conversation, Jenna Bush Hager said: ‘I had the opportunity to talk with my grandpa about the afterlife. He answered without any hesitation, “Yes, I think about it. I used to be afraid. I used to be scared of dying. I used to worry about death. But now in some ways I look forward to it.”

‘And I started crying. I managed to choke out, “Well, why? What do you look forward to?” And he said, “Well, when I die I’m going to be reunited with the people that I’ve lost.”’

Mrs Bush Hager spoke as tributes poured in for America’s 41st president who died eight months after his beloved wife Barbara passed away.

Bush was president from 1989 to 1993, a period which saw the final days of the Cold War, the break-up of the Soviet Union and the first Gulf War. He was a father of six – including son George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president – grandfather of 17 and a great-grandfather of eight.

In a statement after the death of his father, who suffered from a form of Parkinson’s disease, George W. Bush said: ‘After 94 remarkable years our dear dad has died. [He] was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for.’ President Donald Trump, who has been publicly critical of the Bush family, praised Bush’s ‘essential authenticity, disarming wit and unwavering commitment to faith, family and country’.

President Michael D. Higgins described Bush as a ‘president who led his country at a period of significant change at national and global level’. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar tweeted: ‘Sympathies to the Bush family on the death of George HW Bush. He was a notable president who left his mark on US politics. George HW Bush helped to defeat communism, reunify Germany and bring democracy to Eastern Europe.’

Bush will be buried beside his wife and daughter, Robin, who died of leukaemia aged three in 1953.