Start United States USA — Music In pearls and blue, Houstonians say goodbye to Barbara Bush

In pearls and blue, Houstonians say goodbye to Barbara Bush

309
0
TEILEN

„We may not all be Barbara Bush. But we can all try to be like Barbara Bush.“
Yolanda Terence was panicking.
The car was long gone, the first floor of her Bear Creek home still in repair. But Hurricane Harvey was supposed to have spared the pearls.
They were nowhere to be found.
The 59-year-old adored everything about Barbara Bush – the first lady’s mission to fight illiteracy. Her loving embraces of strangers of all kinds. Her warmth. And the pearls.
Terence – better known as “Yogi” – had a bracelet. And they were integral to the last tribute she had planned for her role model.
Eventually, she found them Saturday morning hidden in the bottom of a dresser drawer that had to be moved upstairs after Harvey. She fastened them on her left wrist to polish off her blue outfit -Bush’s favorite color.
She had never met Bush. But like many others gathered in Memorial Park, the late first lady’s life felt familiar. She reminded Terence of her mother, and of the duty she has to raise her seven grandkids with love and kindness.
“She’s what we need more of,” Terence said at the park, which flanked the route Bush’s funeral procession took to her burial in College Station. “She led others to want to be better, and I want to be just like her.”
“We may not all be Barbara Bush,” she said. “But we can all try to be like Barbara Bush.”
Nearby, a woman in a blue dress stood solemnly with a bouquet of yellow daisies. She barely spoke English, but knew what people meant when they pointed to the pearls wrapped around her neck, greeting each compliment with a smile and a “thank you.”
Pattie Kerr, meanwhile, skipped the pearls in favor of running shoes and a sweatshirt. She, too, was inspired by Bush, who used to shop at the same Tanglewood grocery stores as Kerr.
“She never acted like a celebrity or anything,” Kerr said. “She went to Sam’s Club and ate at Fuzzy’s Pizza. How awesome is that?”
Kerr met the Bush family a handful of times. But she talks about them like they’re old friends.
“She made you feel like you were the most important person in the world to her,” Kerr said. “Now I feel like a piece of Houston is gone. But she left behind so many gifts for us.”
Soon after, a procession of police officers made their way down Memorial Drive.
Terence quickly put down her crossword puzzle and shuffled to the road’s median.
One car went by, then another.
Then, around the bend, came a long, black hearse.
Terence nearly lost her breath.
In stunned silence she watched the car moved toward her, greeting Bush with a delicate, blown kiss as she passed a few feet away – a final goodbye to her icon and role model.
Then, the cars disappeared out of view. Terence pulled a napkin from her blue jacket and dried her eyes, her pearls dangling from her wrist.
“I just wanted to say goodbye,” she said.

Continue reading...