SAYING GOODBYE
Ex-president left lasting legacy at his first school
GREENWICH — The passing of George Herbert Walker Bush is the first presidential death this generation of students will remember, and for children at Greenwich Country Day School, his legacy is a lesson in hometown school pride, not just history and civics.
Bush’s boyhood school commemorated the former president’s character in an assembly Wednesday morning. A livestream of the state funeral in Washington for the national leader, who died at age 94 last Friday at his Houston home, played on TV all day.
Dean of Faculty Johnna Yeskey and Headmaster Adam Rohdie used stories of personal encounters with Bush to give students examples of conduct befitting a president and a person.
The future leader was a man of privilege — growing up in Greenwich and attending Greenwich Country Day School, Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts and Yale University — yet his stature, charm and patriotism distinguished him throughout his school days and long career of public service, Yeskey said.
“The underlying values that he learned from his parents and his teachers enabled him to lead with
his strong character and dedicate his life to civic engagement,” said Yeskey, who met Bush in May 1997, when the former president received the Distinguished Alumnus Award and addressed his Class of 1937 at its 60th reunion dinner.
She mentioned a note that his fifth-grade teacher left on his report card, prophesying his future political career, as well as a recommendation letter from Country Day to Andover, which read, “Bush is a boy of excellent character.”
Former President Gerald Ford died in 2006, and the current Greenwich Country Day students were too young to recognize the relevance of his death or had not been born, Yeskey said. Now, students are old enough to remember Bush’s death and think about his impact.
“You have been exposed to many influences in your life that now allow you to reflect on the quality of this man, who in the words of Headmaster Rohdie, had an enduring commitment to making the world a better place both now and in the future,” she said.
Bush is a role model for accepting and handling mistakes, Yeskey told the gathering of students.
“You will all have times in your life where you’re called on to make thoughtful and careful decisions, the decisions you make might not be understood or accepted by everyone,” she said. “You might even make the wrong decisions. When these situations occur, think of George Bush.”
Bush stayed his course, worked quietly and avoided theatrics, Yeskey said.
“Over time, we’ve come to value these characteristics as treasured traits,” she said. “His vice president, Dan Quayle, viewed him as one of the best-equipped, most knowledgeable and most substantive men ever to hold the office. Heads of government knew they were dealing with a serious man.”
When Rohdie met with Bush at his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 2009, the 41st president was humble and inquired about the school and its athletics program, Rohdie said.
“He wanted to ask if we still played Rippowam Cisqua (School),” he said, and students laughed.
Though it was a brief interaction in 2009, it impacted Rohdie, who transmitted the lessons he learned to the student body.
“If you take anything away from this presentation today, take away how important it is to be humble, to be gracious, to ask about other people,” he said. “That’s what George Bush is all about.”