Former President George W. Bush said Thursday that his mother remained feisty and high-spirited the last time he saw her in person, a week before the former first lady passed away. Barbara Bush died Wednesday at age 92.
In an interview for the PBS show In Principle, Bush told Amy Holmes and Michael Gerson, one of his former speechwriters, that his mother teased him when he and his wife, former first lady Laura Bush, visited the family matriarch at her hospital room in Houston earlier this month.
When a doctor stopped by, Bush said his mother asked, “‘Do you want to know why George W. is the way he is, doctor?’” Before the doctor could answer, Bush said his mother replied, “Because I drank and smoke when I was pregnant with him.”
“So I knew she was feeling pretty well,” Bush said, adding, “still feisty, which was a good sign.”
The former president said his mother’s death would be especially hard for his father, former President George H.W. Bush. The couple married in 1945 and spent more than seven decades together.
“At age 93, he’s going to miss mother,” Bush said of his father. “After all, they were married for 73 years.”
The 43rd U.S. president said his…
