THE PRESIDENT’S CASKET WENT ON A 3,000-MILE JOURNEY.
George H.W. Bush died at 10:10 p.m. Nov. 30, after an extraordinary life that lasted 94 years and took him from New England to Texas, to the heights of American power, and across the world.
He flew above the Pacific, crisscrossed the globe, toured America by train on his unsuccessful bid for re-election in 1992, and in later years as an octogenarian, dived from the heavens on eyebrow-raising parachute jumps.
Finally, tens of thousands of people across the nation assembled to carry him on a final journey of remembrance, celebration and farewell, the first presidential funeral in 12 years.
Over six days, Bush’s remains traveled nearly 3,000 miles. He was honored with state funerals in Houston and Washington, D.C., with all the pomp and fanfare the nation’s military could provide. Eulogized and remembered by four living presidents, honored by more than a dozen current and past world leaders, and mourned by more than 10,000 people who waited in line for hours to stand before his casket in the U.S. Capitol and at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. Many thousands more would would pause for the presidential motorcade.
It was a week of mourning and remembrance for a leader praised for his “kinder, gentler” nature.
Friday, Nov. 30: ‘Ceiling and visibility unlimited’
The notices went out shortly after Bush’s death at his Tanglewood home in Houston.
Friends and family used a codeword to share the news of his death: CAVU. The phrase, which came from Bush’s days as a Naval aviator during World War II, literally “ceiling and visibility unlimited.”
“CAVU was the kind of weather we Navy pilots wanted when we were to fly off our carrier in the Pacific,” he said in a 2006 TV interview, reading a letter he’d written to his children. “Because of the five of you whose hugs I can still feel, whose own lives made me so proud, I can confidently tell my guardian angel that my life is CAVU and it will be that way until I die.”
Within hours, his children released a statement, calling their father “a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for.” Tributes across the country began to pour in, as Houston mourned one of the city’s most iconic and beloved residents.
Saturday, Dec. 1: Tributes pour in
Friends and family assembled in Houston and Washington as the two cities began preparing for the first presidential funeral in more than a decade.
Mourners left tokens in Kennebunkport, Maine, where the Bush family has a compound; and at the Bush residence in Houston. Several statues of the president across the city were decorated with flowers and remembrances.
A deluge of tributes to Bush flooded in from luminaries and world leaders from across the globe.
President Donald J. Trump, who was in Argentina for the Group of 20 summit, announced Wednesday, Dec. 5, as a national day of mourning, and praised Bush’s “essential authenticity, disarming wit, and unwavering commitment to faith, family, and country.”
Former President Barack Obama released a statement calling Bush’s life a “testament to the notion that public service is a noble, joyous calling,” that did “tremendous good” along the way. Former President Bill Clinton said he would be “forever grateful” for his friendship with Bush and honored Bush’s “innate and genuine decency.”
Sunday, Dec. 2: Moment of silence
Congregants gathered at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in west Houston Sunday for a quiet service celebrating the first Sunday of Advent, with a moment of silence in honor of Bush’s “remarkable life.”
That same day, one of the U.S. Air Force’s 747s typically referred to as Air Force One landed in Houston. Since Trump would not be traveling on the aircraft as it ferried Bush’s remains to and from Washington, the plane was re-designated “Special Airlift Mission 41,” in honor of Bush.
That night, Bush spokesman Jim McGrath posted a photo of Sully, Bush’s yellow Labrador service dog, lying in front of his casket.
“Mission complete,” he wrote, accompanying the photo.
Monday, Dec. 3: Special Airlift Mission 41
Ceremonies began Monday in earnest.
Mourners began to line Bering Drive at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons Funeral Home early Monday morning to pay their respects to the former president.
Members of Bush’s Secret Service detail — with whom he had a deep friendship — served as pallbearers for that first stage of the journey, escorting “Timberwolf ” to a hearse waiting outside. From there, a small convoy of mourners and dignitaries traveled from the funeral home to Special Airlift Mission 41 at Ellington Airport, where hundreds of mourners looked on.
Bush, who became known for wearing bright and bold socks — and who described himself as liking “a colorful sock” — was dressed in a pair adorned with an image of a squadron of Navy jets, in remembrance of his days as a naval aviator.
After a short ceremony, Spe-
“What’s wrong with being a boring kind of guy?” – George H.W. Bush
“I am a conservative, but I’m not a nut about it.” – George H.W. Bush
“brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points light in a broad and peaceful sky.” - President George H. W. Bush We Salute You, 41.
cial Airlift Mission 41 took off from Ellington about 11 a.m., under a clear blue sky, to fly the 1400 miles to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where a delegation from the Central Intelligence Agency was among those waiting, in honor of Bush’s service directing the agency from 1976-1977.
After a short ceremony at Andrews, Bush’s body was taken by presidential motorcade to the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. His flagdraped casket was placed on a black catafalque, bordered by three wreaths, and guarded by members of the nation’s five military branches.
He became the 12th president to lie in repose at the nation’s Capitol, which stayed open around the clock to accommodate the thousands of visitors who paid their respects.
Many of the nation’s leaders were among those paying respect. During a ceremony in the rotunda, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised Bush for his calm leadership during the Soviet Union’s collapse.
“With his even temperament and hard-won expertise, George Herbert Walker Bush steered this country as straight as he steered that airplane,” he said. “He kept us flying high and challenged us to fly higher still. And he did it with modesty and kindness that would have been surprising in someone one-tenth as tough and accomplished as he was.”
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Bush “personified grace.”
Tuesday, Dec. 4: Lying in state at U.S. Capitol
Over the course of the night, and throughout the day on Tuesday, thousands of mourners braved chilly 36-degree weather to wait hours in long lines to see Bush at the Capitol. Among the mourners were past presidents, nearly all of the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, and many thousands of everyday citizens.
One of the most poignant moments came on Tuesday afternoon, when former Sen. Bob Dole, a fellow WWII veteran, visited the Rotunda. Dole, 95, who uses a wheelchair, was helped to his feet and solemnly saluted his old friend.
Later that night, in Houston, mourners descended on City Hall for a citywide celebration of Bush’s life. Mourners wore colorful socks in his honor and were treated to performances by the Houston Symphony, gospel singer Yolanda Adams and the legendary Tejano band La Mafia.
Mayor Sylvester Turner paid tribute to the former president and noted Houston’s role in his political rise.
“Houston welcomed him back with open arms,” Turner told the crowd. “He embraced this city and we embraced him back.”
Wednesday, Dec. 5: A Day of Mourning, a state funeral
Mourners continued to pay respects as he lay in state in the U.S. Capitol until Wednesday morning, when his casket was moved to Washington National Cathedral for the first of two funerals.
Because Trump designated Wednesday a National Day of Mourning, U.S. stock markets were closed, and the U.S. Postal Service halted regular mail delivery.
At the Cathedral, approximately 3,000 people gathered, including five current and past presidents: Trump, Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
Other notable world leaders included King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan; Australian Governor General Peter Cosgrove and Lynne Cosgrove; Polish President Andrzej Duda; former Polish President Lech Walesa; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; and Charles, Prince of Wales. Bush was eulogized by Presidential historian and biographer Jon Meacham; former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney; former Sen. Alan K. Simpson and Bush’s eldest son, former President George W. Bush.
The younger Bush said his father showed what it meant to serve with integrity and lead with courage and love.
“When the history books are written, they will say that George H.W. Bush was a great president of the United States,” he said.
After the funeral, Bush’s remains were taken back to Joint Base Andrews and then flown back to Texas. Along the way, Special Airlift Mission 41 flew past Texas A&M University, giving an airborne salute to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Aggies waited on rooftops and other lookout points to watch the plane circle the institution at 2,000 feet in the low winter sun, before it headed south to Houston.
The plane landed an hour later at Ellington, and Bush’s remains were transported to St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in west Houston. Hundreds of people stood in line to view the casket as he lay in repose inside the church until 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Thursday, Dec. 6: Houston funeral and a final reunion
About 1,200 people gathered at St. Martin’s for a private funeral service that included some of Houston’s top luminaries.
He was eulogized by his close friend, former Secretary of State James Baker, who called Bush “our nation’s very best one-term president.”
Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, the eldest grandson of the 41st president, also gave a eulogy.
Among those in the church were Gov. Greg Abbott, Mayor Sylvester Turner, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and a string of top athletes, philanthropists and other notables, including former Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan, former Rockets center Yao Ming, Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt, philanthropists Nancy and Rich Kinder, former Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane and Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta.
After the service, Bush’s casket was taken to the Union Pacific facility in Spring. Shortly before 1 p.m., his body was placed aboard a specially painted train car led by a locomotive named Bush 4141 for the 70-mile trek to College Station. Bush is the first president since Dwight D. Eisenhower to use a train for his funeral — the 4141 mimicked the colors of Bush’s Air Force One, with a dark blue nose over a baby blue belly, capped across most of the midsection by white.
Near the train’s nose is the seal of Bush’s presidential library.
Bush first used the train at its debut for a 2005 event at the presidential library. For the trip to College Station on Thursday, Bush’s casket was placed in a train car painted with the American flag and modified with floor-to-ceiling windows to allow public viewing along the route.
Throngs of spectators — some from as far as Arkansas and as close as Spring — stood through the drizzle and chill along the route to watch the train pass by. They waved flags and snapped photos, and some placed coins on train tracks to be flattened into impromptu souvenirs.
The Bush 4141 train arrived in College Station shortly after 4 p.m. to the tune of the Aggie War Hymn and the sight of hundreds of members of A&M’s Corps of Cadets stood at attention. Then at 4:15 p.m., the U.S. Navy performed an “unprecedented” flyover of 21 F/A-18 Hornets and Super Hornets.
One jet came first, Bush’s name painted on its nose. Then, 20 jets followed, in sets of four, in diamond formation. As the last diamond passed overhead, one jet shot skyward, in the Navy’s missing-man formation, signifying the loss of an aviator.
Afterward, the sounds of a 21gun salute reverberated across the grounds.
Later Thursday evening, Bush’s family watched privately as his casket was interred between that of his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush, and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia as a threeyear-old.
Seven months after Barbara Bush’s death and decades after the loss of Robin, the trio was united again.
Saturday, Dec. 8: Public respects
The gravesites of George and Barbara Bush and their daughter, Robin, were scheduled to be open for public viewing at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
“As president, there can be no definition of a successful life that does not include service to others.” — George H.W. Bush, in a letter to granddaughter Jenna Hager Bush
“I do not seek a Pulitzer Prize. I do not want press attention. I don’t crave sitting at the head table. … I have found happiness.” — George H.W. Bush, in a letter to granddaughter Jenna Hager Bush