Trumps to attend funeral
Former president George H.W. Bush will lie in state next week at the U.S. Capitol, giving the American public an opportunity to bid farewell to the 41st president, and then will be honored with a state funeral Wednesday morning at the Washington National Cathedral before being returned to Houston for burial.
Bush’s remains will be flown Monday morning from Ellington Field in Houston to the Joint Base Andrews military facility in Maryland, according to a statement released Saturday night by federal authorities.
The public will be able to pay its respects to Bush from 7:30 p.m. Monday to 7 a.m. Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington. A state funeral will be held at the Washington National Cathedral, beginning at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania announced they will attend Bush’s funeral at the National Cathedral. Wednesday will be declared a national day of mourning, Trump said. Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies and departments to close Wednesday “as a mark of respect” for Bush.
“He was a very fine man,” Trump said of Bush, who died Friday night in Houston at the age of 94. “He led a full life, and a very exemplary life, too.”
Trump said he spoke with former President George W. Bush Saturday morning and offered his condolences.
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq stock market announced they will be closed Wednesday. The exchanges will observe a moment of silence Monday in honor of the former president at 8:20 a.m. Chicago time.
After the state funeral Wednesday, the late president’s remains will be returned to Houston. A funeral service is planned at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston.
On Thursday, the president’s casket will be taken by train to College Station, Texas, accompanied by Bush family members and close friends. Bush will be buried on Thursday in a family plot behind the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum at Texas A&M University, alongside his wife and former first lady, Barbara, and daughter Robin, who died at age 3 in 1953, university officials said in a statement on Saturday. Barbara Bush passed away in April at age 92.