Spokesman: George H.W. Bush hospitalized with blood infection

HOUSTON — Former President George H.W. Bush has been hospitalized in Houston with an infection, just after attending the funeral of his wife, Barbara, a spokesman said Monday.

Jim McGrath said on Twitter that the 93-yearold Bush is “responding to treatments and appears to be recovering.” He was admitted Sunday morning to Houston Methodist Hospital after an infection spread to his blood, McGrath said.

Barbara Bush was laid to rest Saturday in a ceremony attended by her husband and former presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and their wives, along with current first lady Melania Trump. She was 92, and she and her husband had been married 73 years — the longest presidential marriage in U.S. history.

The elder Bush uses a wheelchair and an electric scooter for mobility after developing a form of Parkinson’s disease, and he has needed hospital treatment several times in recent years for respiratory problems.

He attended the funeral wearing a pair of knitted socks decorated in blue, red and yellow books — a tribute to his late wife’s work promoting literacy.

McGrath wouldn’t elaborate Monday night on the specifics of Bush’s condition, saying additional updates would be issued “as events warrant.”

But he said the 41st president was eager to get well so he can get to his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

“He’s the most goal-oriented person on this planet,” McGrath said.

Their son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, indicated during his eulogy Saturday that his father had been hospitalized recently at the same time Barbara Bush was in the hospital for the last time.