DES MOINES, Iowa — A week before the nation first learned of Barbara Bush’s failing health, family and close friends already knew. “I read it and I cried,” said Iowan Becky Beach. Not related by blood, the news hit Beach just as hard. “I lived in all three of their homes.
DES MOINES, Iowa — A week before the nation first learned of Barbara Bush’s failing health, family and close friends already knew. “I read it and I cried,” said Iowan Becky Beach. Not related by blood, the news hit Beach just as hard. “I lived in all three of their homes. In Houston, Washington D. C. and Maine. Literally, they are like a second family.”
Beach served as personal assistant to Barbara Bush for four and a half years beginning in 1978 before her husband George H. W. Bush would go onto serve as Vice President to Ronald Reagan and 41st President of the United States. Beach said, “I knew they were a special family.”
Where Barbara was, so too was Becky Beach in every Iowa county. “We went to all ninety-nine and we had a blast. One of the things I admire tremendously about her was her love of her family.
From small Iowa towns to Washington D. C. Beach often saw Barbara’s lighter side first hand. “Her sense of humor and her wit is extraordinary,” said Beach. She added, “She also felt that literacy and everybody having the ability to read was critical for their success in the future which would help the community as a whole.”
Beach says looking back, she is now thankful she surprised Barbara at the Bush home in Houston in 2016 where yet again Barbara didn’t disappoint. She recalled a moment Barbara shared early on the campaign trail during her Houston visit. “She would make fun of me. I had boots that made a lot of noise. We were in a library with wooden floors in New Hampshire and she was speaking. This was before cell phones and I went to use a pay phone and my boots were so noisy and she said, ‘That very rude young lady in the back is my assistant. They all laughed, of course she was kidding.”
Beach says she is invited and expected to attend Barbara Bush’s funeral on Saturday in Houston, Texas.
