Barbara Bush, former first lady and first mother, dead at 92

Former first lady Barbara Bush, the second woman in U.S. history to be a wife and mother of a U.S. president, died at age 92

Her death was announced by the office of her husband.

She had been in failing health, suffering from congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. After a series of hospitalizations, including one in early 2017 when she and her husband were both patients at Houston Methodist Hospital, she decided not to seek further medical treatment, the family announced Sunday.

The official funeral schedule has not yet been announced.

She and her husband, George H.W. Bush, the 41st president, were married longer than any presidential couple in American history, 73 years.

Eight years after they left the White House, Mrs. Bush stood with her husband as their son George W. was sworn in as the 43rd president. Only Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams, holds a similar place in American history.

She had a chance to surpass Abigail Adams by seeing a second son, Jeb, in the Oval Office, but she initially wasn't that supportive. "There are other people out there that are very qualified, and we've had enough Bushes," she told NBC's "TODAY" in 2013, when the former Florida governor was contemplating a run for the Republican presidential nomination. Two years later, she sent out a fundraising request on behalf of his bid, which he lost to Donald Trump.

In addition to supporting her husband throughout his career and helping to raise their large family, Mrs. Bush also was an independent spirit, willing to speak her mind, sometimes bluntly, sometimes with the grace of humor. And she raised millions of dollars to fight illiteracy.

Barbara Pierce Bush was born on June 8, 1925, to Pauline and Marvin Pierce. Her father, a distant relative to President Franklin Pierce, later became president of McCall Corporation, publisher of women's magazines including McCall's and Redbook. She grew up in Rye, New York, a comfortable New York City suburb, with her siblings Martha, James and Scott, before attending boarding school in South Carolina.

'An unvarnished purveyor of the truth' 

Despite her grandmotherly public demeanor, Mrs. Bush's family and close friends were familiar with her sharper side.

George W. Bush noted in his post-presidency book, "Decision Points," that he inherited a quick, blunt temper from his mother. His wife, Laura, said her mother-in-law "managed to insult nearly all of my friends with one or another perfectly timed acerbic comment."

On the other hand, her wit could be disarming. In 1990, scores of students at Wellesley College had signed a petition protesting her selection as commencement speaker. They complained that as a housewife, she was a poor role model to be honored by the women's college.

But Mrs. Bush appeared at the commencement, sharing the podium with Soviet first lady Raisa Gorbachev, who had been a college professor.

"Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the president's spouse," Mrs. Bush told the graduates. "I wish him well!"

Mrs. Bush usually kept her sarcasm under wraps, though one noted slip came in 1984 when her husband was running for re-election as vice president with Reagan.

During the heat of the campaign, Democratic challengers Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro questioned whether wealthy people like the Bushes could relate to average Americans.

An irritated Mrs. Bush told a reporter that Ferraro was a "$4 million — I can't say it — but it rhymes with rich."

Mrs. Bush later said she meant "witch" and apologized, and Ferraro accepted the apology.

"She was an unvarnished purveyor of the truth and motivated us all to be better people," Andrew Card, who was her husband's Transportation secretary and her son's chief of staff, told The New York Times. "And she was also contagious with love."

Indeed. In a brief comment to the spring 2018 Smith Alumnae Quarterly, Mrs. Bush wrote: "I am still old and still in love with the man I married 72 years ago."