Barbara Pierce Bush

                    Barbara Pierce Bush is the wife of George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States; as such, she served as First Lady from 1989 to 1993.  She is also the mother of George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, and Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida.

Barbara Pierce was born on June 8, 1925, in Flushing, New York, as the third child of Marvin Pierce (1893-1969) and Pauline Robinson Pierce (1896-1949).  Her father later became the president of McCall Corporation, the publisher of the popular women's Redbook and McCall's.  Barbara's siblings include Martha Pierce Rafferty (1920-1999), James Pierce (1921-1993), and Scott Pierce (born 1930).  She is a descendent of Thomas Pierce, an early New England colonist who is also an ancestor of President Franklin Pierce.  Barbara is a fourth cousin, four times removed of President Pierce, the 14th President of the United States.

                    Barbara attended Rye Country Day School, Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina (1940-1943).  She was athletic as a youth and enjoyed riding bikes, swimming, and tennis.  She also learned to enjoy reading very early in her life.  [As a mother she gathered her family together in the evenings to read together.  This interest in reading continued when she was the wife of the Vice President and President of the United States when she supported and advanced the cause of universal literacy.  While she was First Lady, she founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and has continued to advance this cause since leaving the White House.]

                    When Barbara was sixteen years old, she attended a dance over Christmas vacation and met George Herbert Walker Bush who was then a student at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.  George and Barbara dated for a year and a half and became engaged just prior to his leaving to serve as a Navy torpedo bomber pilot in World War II.  George named three of his planes after his sweetheart:  Barbara, Barbara II, and Barbara III.

                    Barbara dropped out of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts when George returned on leave in 1945, and the couple married two weeks later on January 6, 1945 in the First Presbyterian Church in Rye, New York.  The couple moved around the Eastern United States for the first eight months of their marriage as George's Navy squadron training required him at bases in Michigan, Maryland, and Virginia.

                    The couple became parents of six children: George W. Bush (1946), Pauline Bush (1949-1953; known as Robin; died of Leukemia), John Ellis Bush (1953; known as Jeb Bush), Marvin Bush (1955), and Dorothy Bush Koch (1959).  [The couple have five living children and 14 grandchildren.]  The death of Robin is credited with turning Barbara's hair from light brown to chalk white.

                    After George graduated from Yale University, the family moved to Odessa, Texas, in 1950 where he entered the oil industry.  The couple moved 29 times during their marriage.  George founded his own oil company, the successful Zapata Corporation, and became a millionaire by age 40.  Because George was away so much on oil business and later in politics, Barbara assumed the major responsibilities for rearing the children.

                    Barbara supported and accompanied her husband in the many elected and appointed positions in the U.S. Congress, the Executive branch, and government-related posts.  She supported the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and was pro-choice on abortion - as did her husband.

                    Mrs. Bush became well-known while she served eight years as the Second Lady of our nation.  She became action in adult and childhood literacy issues because her son Neil was diagnosed with dyslexia.  She researched and learned the factors that led to childhood and adult illiteracy; she believed that homelessness was connected to illiteracy and worked to combat both.

                    Barbara spoke at the 1988 national party convention when her husband was campaigning for President.  "She promised voters that she would be a traditional first lady and campaigned actively for her husband."  Mrs. Bush was compared with Nancy Reagan, particularly her interest in church, gardening, and family time as well as her emphasis on style, fashion, designer clothing and her white hair. 

As First Lady, Barbara continued to work for more literacy and eventually founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.  She was also involved with the White House Historical Association and revitalizing the White House Preservation Fund - which she renamed the White House Endowment Trust.  This "trust raises funds for the ongoing refurbishment and restoration of the White House."  She set and met a goal to raise $25 million for the trust fund.

                    Barbara is well known for her beloved pet English Springer Spaniel named Millie.  She wrote a children's book about Millie and her new puppies.  She received the Henry G. Freeman Jr. Pin Money Fund - $36,000, "most of which she gave to favorite charities.  Barbara and George continue to be active in political circles and have announced their support for Mitt Romney.