A special funeral train was carrying Bush’s remains through small towns to the family plot on the presidential library grounds at Texas A&M University<\/b>
\nHOUSTON \u2014 George H. W. Bush\u2019s family and friends praised his faith, humility and patience Thursday, saying the former president embodied courage and grace along with his unique brand of humor and kindness as days of national mourning in Washington took on a more personal feel during a final Texas farewell.
Addressing a funeral at Houston\u2019s St. Martin\u2019s Episcopal Church where the 41st president and his family regularly worshipped, Bush\u2019s former secretary of state and confidant for decades, James Baker, addressed him as \u201cjefe,\u201d Spanish for \u201cboss.\u201d He praised Bush as a \u201ctruly beautiful human being\u201d who had the \u201ccourage of a warrior but the greater courage of a peacemaker.\u201d
\u201cThe world became a better place because George Bush occupied the White House for four years,\u201d said Baker, who concluded his remarks fighting back tears.
Following the services, a special funeral train was carrying Bush\u2019s remains through small towns to the family plot on the presidential library grounds at Texas A&M University in College Station. His final resting place is alongside his wife and Robin Bush, the daughter they lost to leukemia at age 3.
Thursday\u2019s flavor was distinctly Texas. In place of most Washington dignitaries were top Houston athletes including the NFL Texans\u2019 defensive end J. Watt \u2014 displaying Bush\u2019s love for sports \u2014 and Chuck Norris, who played TV\u2019s \u201cWalker, Texas Ranger.\u201d
The St. Martin\u2019s Parish Choir performed \u201cThis is My Country,\u201d which was also sung at Bush\u2019s presidential inauguration in 1989. Those gathered also heard a prayer stressing the importance of service and selflessness that the president himself offered for the country at the start of his term.
President Donald Trump wasn\u2019t in attendance Thursday, but Baker seemed to draw a gentle contrast by saying Bush respected vanquished adversaries. He said that Bush\u2019s wish for a \u201ckinder, gentler nation\u201d was genuine, not cynical.
There were rousing renditions of the \u201cBattle Hymn of the Republic\u201d and \u201cOnward Christian Soldiers,\u201d but also many of Bush\u2019s country favorites. The Oak Ridge Boys recalled performing for him for decades and joked that Bush \u201cfancied himself to be a good bass singer. He was not.\u201d They then sang \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d and Reba McEntire offered a musical version of \u201cThe Lord\u2019s Prayer.\u201d
The previous evening, more than 11,000 people paid their respects as his casket that lay in repose in Houston all night.
George P. Bush, the former president\u2019s grandson and the only member of the political dynasty still holding elected office, as Texas land commissioner, subsequently struck a more personal tone in his eulogy of the man he and the younger generations called \u201cgampy.\u201d
\u201cHe left a simple, yet profound legacy to his children, to his grandchildren and to his country: service,\u201d George P. Bush said.
The church\u2019s pastor, Rev. Russell Levenson Jr., recalled the Bushes regularly attending services there and offering to give up their seats to others on days when the church was particularly crowded.
\u201cHe was ready for heaven and heaven was ready for him,\u201d Levenson said of Bush\u2019s declining in health in recent years. He also suggested that when Bush died, he would meet his wife of 73 years, Barbara, in heaven and she would playfully demand \u201cWhat took you so long?\u201d
The locomotive unveiled for the special exhibit at George H. W. Bush\u2019s presidential library will be used to pull the late president\u2019s funeral train.| AP file photo
Indeed, the funeral occurred at the same church where services were held in April for Barbara Bush, which was remembered for an emotional scene when the former president gazed from his wheelchair up at her casket, then shook hands with well-wishers.
At Wednesday\u2019s Washington funeral service at the National Cathedral, there was high praise for the last of the presidents to have fought in World War II \u2014 and a hefty dose of humor about a man whose speaking delivery was once described as a cross between Mister Rogers and John Wayne. Three former presidents and Trump watched George W. Bush eulogized his father as \u201cthe brightest of a thousand points of light.\u201d
The cathedral service was a tribute to the patriarch of one of the nation\u2019s most-powerful political families \u2014 it occupied the White House for a dozen years \u2014and to a faded political era that prized military service and public responsibility. Like Baker\u2019s address Thursday, it was laced with indirect comparisons to Trump but was not consumed by them, as speakers focused on Bush\u2019s public life and character \u2014 with plenty of cracks about his goofy side, too.
\u201cHe was a man of such great humility,\u201d said Alan Simpson, former Republican senator from Wyoming. Those who travel \u201cthe high road of humility in Washington, D. C.,\u201d he added pointedly, \u201care not bothered by heavy traffic.\u201d
Trump sat Wednesday with his wife, a trio of ex-presidents and their wives, several of them sharp critics of his presidency and one of them, Hillary Clinton, his 2016 Democratic foe. Apart from courteous nods and some handshakes, there was little interaction between Trump and the others.
George W. Bush broke down briefly at the end of his eulogy while invoking the daughter his parents lost in 1953 and his mother, who died in April. He took comfort in knowing \u201cDad is hugging Robin and holding Mom\u2019s hand again.\u201d
Bush\u2019s death makes Carter, also 94 but more than 100 days younger, the oldest living ex-president.<\/p>\n