What can we learn from the Bushes? Dignity, says St. Martin’s Episcopal priest
Shortly before the Rev. Russ Levenson left Florida to become rector of Houston’s St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, he received a phone call. The caller ID read: Office of George H.W. Bush.
The former president was on the line, welcoming Levenson to the helm of the congregation where he and his wife, Barbara, were longtime members.
Little did Levenson know that this call would mark the beginning of a deep and abiding friendship, one that would include happy hours, summers in Maine, dinners around Houston, prayer at the Bush’s home and eventually presiding over both George H.W. and Barbara Bush’s funerals.
Levenson writes about this treasured time in his new book, “Witness to Dignity,” his eyewitness account of the integrity, dignity and faith of the former president and first lady.
The text includes neverbefore-shared correspondence, the prayers the rector led and the homilies he delivered.
“Witness to Dignity” will hit shelves Nov. 15 at Books-AMillion, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other bookstores.
George and Barbara Bush were active members of St. Martin’s for more than 50 years. Levenson’s path crossed theirs the moment he started his post in 2007.
In the years that followed, Levenson and his wife, Laura, developed close ties with the Bushes. The thought of writing a book about it, however, was not on Levenson’s mind until recently.
“I wanted to lift them up — and show the models that they were,” Levenson said.
After their two funerals, he and Laura were consumed with grief, he said. “Our lives, in so many ways, were interwoven as friends,” Levenson said. “I didn’t know how I could ever put it into words.”
Then, after a substantial expansion project at St, Martin’s began a couple of years ago, Levenson found himself looking at archived correspondences with the Bushes, all which reflected the couple’s total commitment to their church and their faith.
Levenson could not bear for that story to stay only within the congregation. “That’s when I started to think about a book,” he said.
Levenson wrote to the
Bush’s children and friends and asked for their thoughts on his proposed project. He wondered how he could tell the story in a way that would honor the couple. He did not want to make it about himself, even if he served as narrator.
“That’s when the idea of being a witness emerged,” Levenson said.
He realized that perhaps all of those years — when he often asked himself, starstruck, “What am I doing here?” among the Bush family and their prominent friends — were purposeful.
Levenson believed that he was invited into moments where he could serve as a witness — and that meant he had a responsibility to share the wisdom he observed.
He began to write, organizing his notes, their shared letters and his thoughts.
Around the fall of 2021, he met with his literary agent,
Tom Dean, founder of the agency A Drop of Ink. Levenson has written six other books.
Dean encouraged him to write a book proposal, which was promptly accepted by Center Street, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. The only catch was that the publishers wanted it right away.
Center Street editorial director Alex Pappas said that he immediately was drawn to the topic.
“This is one of those times when I saw a proposal and thought, ‘I have to do this book,’” he recalled. “We were like, ‘Write this book, and let us publish it as fast as we can, because the world needs this book.’”
Pappas said that the stories were inspiring and unlike any others told about the Bushes.
“This is totally different,” he said. “Most people have never heard these intimate stories from a person who had the incredible opportunity to minister to the president and first lady.”
There’s a second narrative that emerges, which Pappas also found intriguing — of a minister discovering a call to witness.
“It’s unlike anything you’ve read about the Bush family,” Pappas said. “Not only is it fascinating, but it also provides an escape from our polarized times.”
Levenson worked at a furious speed to meet the deadline. “I lived in my study,” he said with a smile.
He had to balance the writing project with his duties as rector. Still, he managed to finish a 550-page draft in only 32 days. Then, the editing process began.
Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, wrote the foreword for the resulting book. He starts by sharing one of his father’s favorite quotes, often ascribed to Saint Francis, “Preach Christ at all times. If necessary, use words.”
George H.W. Bush had the phrase etched onto a wooden plaque, which he kept in his desk, and was later handed down to Levenson.
Jeb Bush writes, “Our world is not the same without George and Barbara Bush, but their example remains ever before us. This book, then, is a celebration of these two remarkable people who showed us how to live a life of high purpose, with decency, integrity, kindness and charity for all. In a word, they showed us dignity.”
In the book, Levenson shares his note to the former governor, asking for his thoughts on the project. The rector writes, “I think given the current climate of leadership we have now in our nation, the purpose would be to remind folk that having godly, dignified leaders of character is not only possible, but necessary.”
Levenson hopes that “Witness to Dignity” will serve to “light a candle” instead of “curse the darkness.” What makes his collected memories unique, compared to other remembrances of the Bushes, is the focus on their faith journey.
“This is not so much a religious book as it is a book about how they lived their faith,” he said.
He talks about their regular spot in the pews, under the St. George and the Dragon stained glass that was a gift from their children to the church in 2004 to honor their parents. Their shared moments of prayer and worship, their discussions about belief, their loyalty to the church and their commitment to God are themes of the book.
Readers will also learn about moments that could have tested their faith, like George H.W. Bush’s survival of an air attack in 1944 and the grief they suffered over the death of their daughter Robin.
Levenson provides insight into the love story between the first couple, their sense of humor and their constant care for others.
He traces their political journey and reminds readers of Bush’s inauguration speech: “I yearn for greater tolerance, an easygoingness about each other’s attitudes and way of life.”
The book also examines the former president’s commitment to separation of church and state and his conviction that faith be inclusive, not exclusive.
The book is conversational — and carries the intense emotion Levenson felt while writing. Sometimes, it was difficult to put pen to paper to share the later years, he explained.
“I would write about Barbara’s death, and I was in tears by the time it was through,” Levenson said.
Describing the funeral of the former president, he writes, “The world sang and wept and laughed and prayed and was reminded of the noble qualities of what truly makes a human, or nation, great. The world witnessed the unmistakable qualities of a godlike life — civility, decency, humility, kindness and love.”
The Bushes exemplified what it “means to live with dignity.” Levenson wants others to see what he saw — and to learn from the Bushes’ example, as he did.
“What I saw in them, at the end of their lives, the things that mattered most were not career or power, it was family, friends and faith,” Levenson said. “They wanted their priest with them up until the end. And there is no greater privilege.”
In his eulogy in Washington, D.C., Levenson said: “Some have said this is an end of an era. But it doesn’t have to be. Perhaps this is an invitation to fill the void that has been left behind.”
Levenson suggests that readers use their example as a guiding light. He writes, “We must do more than hope. And what you hold in your hands provides a road map.” The Bushes demonstrate that the “qualities of character, decency, and integrity are not unattainable, nor should they be abandoned.”