Rarely has a First Lady been greeted by the American people and the press with
the approbation and warmth accorded to Barbara Pierce Bush. Perhaps this is
prompted by the image she calls "everybody's grandmother." People are
comfortable with her white hair, her warm, relaxed manner, and her keen wit.
With characteristic directness, she says people like her because they know "I'm
fair and I like children and I adore my husband."

Barbara was born in 1925 to Pauline and Marvin Pierce, who later became
president of McCall Corporation. In the suburban town of Rye, New York, she had
a happy childhood. She went to boarding school at Ashley Hall in South Carolina,
and it was at a dance during Christmas vacation when she was only 16 that she
met George Bush, a senior at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. They
became engaged a year and a half later, just before he went off to war as a
Navy torpedo bomber pilot. By the time George returned on leave, Barbara had
dropped out of Smith College. Two weeks later, on January 6, 1945, they were
married.

After the war, George graduated from Yale, and they set out for Texas to start
their lives together. Six children were born to them: George, Robin, Jeb, Neil,
Marvin, and Dorothy. Meanwhile, George built a business in the oil industry.
With Texas as home base, he then turned to politics and public service, serving
as a member of Congress, U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Chairman of the
Republican National Committee, Chief of the U. S. Liaison Office in the People's
Republic of China, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and later as
Vice President. In those 44 years of marriage, Mrs. Bush managed 29 moves of
the family.

When her husband was away, she became the family linchpin, providing everything
from discipline to carpools. The death of their daughter Robin from leukemia
when she was not quite four left George and Barbara Bush with a lifelong
compassion. She says, "Because of Robin, George and I love every living human
more."

Barbara Bush was always an asset to her husband during his campaigns for public
office. Her friendly, forthright manner won her high marks from the voters and
the press. As wife of the Vice President, she selected the promotion of
literacy as her special cause. As First Lady, she called working for a more
literate America the "most important issue we have." Involved with many
organizations devoted to this cause, she became Honorary Chairman of the
Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. A strong advocate of volunteerism,
Mrs. Bush helped many causes--including the homeless, AIDS, the elderly, and
school volunteer programs.

Today Barbara Bush lives in a home she and her husband built in Houston, Texas,
where she enjoys being part of the community. Their children and grandchildren
visit them often in Houston and at the family summer home in Kennebunkport,
Maine. Devoted to her family, Mrs. Bush still finds time to work on an
autobiography, serve on the Boards of AmeriCares and the Mayo Clinic, and
continue her prominent role in the Barbara Bush Foundation.