HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on the funeral and burial of former first lady Barbara Bush (all times local): 11 a.m. Former President George H…
HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on the funeral and burial of former first lady Barbara Bush (all times local):
11 a.m.
Former President George H. W. Bush has arrived with his family at the funeral for his wife of 73 years, former first lady Barbara Bush.
The former president was helped in with a wheelchair behind his sons, former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and other Bush relatives.
Also now seated in the front of the church, in the same pew, are two other former presidents — Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — along with their wives and current first lady Melania Trump.
President Donald Trump isn’t attending the service but released a statement saying his «thoughts and prayers» are «with the entire Bush family.»
About 1,500 people are expected at the private service Saturday at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. Barbara Bush and her husband regularly worshipped at the church, which is the largest Episcopal church in the country.
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10:30 a.m.
Guests arriving for the funeral for former first lady Barbara Bush are starting to fill the nation’s largest Episcopal church, embracing and talking beneath the church’s cavernous sanctuary.
About 1,500 people are expected at the private service Saturday at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, where Mrs. Bush and her husband, George H. W. Bush, long worshipped.
Along with the former president, three other former presidents also will attend: the couple’s son, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
A program shows that Barbara Bush’s granddaughters will offer a reading during the service and her grandsons will serve pallbearers. Her son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will deliver a eulogy, as will longtime friend Susan Baker and historian Jon Meacham, who wrote a 2015 biography of George H. W. Bush.
Officials say more than 6,200 people came through the church Friday to pay their final respects to the former first lady, who died Tuesday at her Houston home. She was 92.
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9:30 a.m.
Guests have begun to arrive at St. Martin’s Church in Houston for the funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush.
About 1,500 people are expected at Saturday’s private service, including four former presidents — Bush’s husband and son, George H. W. and George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
First lady Melania Trump will be at the service, but the White House said this week that President Donald Trump wouldn’t attend «to avoid disruptions due to added security, and out of respect for the Bush Family and friends attending the service.»
After the service, Barbara Bush will be laid to rest in a gated plot at the Bush Library at Texas A&M University where her and her husband’s daughter Robin, who died of leukemia in 1953 at age 3, is also buried.
Thousands of people on Friday paid respects to Bush, who died Tuesday at her Houston home at age 92.
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12:05 a.m.
Some 1,500 guests are expected to attend a private funeral for Barbara Bush at the nation’s largest Episcopal church.
First lady Melania Trump, former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, and former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, are among those expected to attend the invitation-only service at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. Burial will follow at the Bush Library in College Station, Texas.
Son and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, longtime friend Susan Baker and historian Jon Meacham, who wrote a 2015 biography of George H. W. Bush, will deliver eulogies.
Thousands of people on Friday paid respects to Barbara Bush, wife of the nation’s 41st president and mother of the nation’s 43rd. Bush died Tuesday at her Houston home. She was 92.
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