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AFP
Washington
Former president George W. Bush thanked his mother Barbara for her"beautiful life"as tributes poured in Wednesday for the much-loved political matriarch and one-time first lady following her death at the age of 92.
Long seen as the pillar of one of America's most prominent families, as wife to the 41st US president and mother to the 43rd, Barbara Bush died at her home in Texas on Tuesday surrounded by her family.
"As a result of her soul being comforted on her deathbed, my soul is comforted,"George W. Bush told Fox Business."It's the end of a beautiful life."
His father, the 93-year-old George H.W. Bush, was said by staff to be heart-broken to lose"his beloved Barbara,"his wife of more than seven decades.
Known for her trademark faux pearls and tart-tongued comments about life in and out of Washington -- but also her deep loyalty to family and self-deprecating humor -- Barbara Bush was in many ways a figure more popular among ordinary Americans than her high-flying husband and sons.
Having undergone heart surgery in 2009, she was treated for years for Graves'disease, a thyroid condition, and as her health failed in recent days, was moved into comfort care at her home in Houston.
She will be laid to rest in Texas after a memorial ceremony on Saturday in Houston to be attended by the first lady, Melania Trump.
President Donald Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at all public buildings and military posts in Bush's honor, as he paid tribute to her work to promote literacy -- a cause she embraced during her time as first lady, from 1989 to 1993, and beyond.
George W Bush and his wife Laura expressed their gratitude for the prayers and sympathies pouring in for his mother, who is survived by five children, 17 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She lost a sixth child -- a daughter -- to leukemia as a toddler. A hugely popular figure during and after her time in the White House, Bush made history as one of just two women to be wife and mother to two US presidents. Abigail Adams, who died in 1818, was the other.
Another son, Jeb Bush, served two terms as governor of Florida and ran for president himself in 2016.
"I'm exceptionally privileged to be the son of George Bush and the exceptionally gracious, gregarious, fun, funny, loving, tough, smart, graceful woman who was the force of nature known as Barbara Bush,"Jeb Bush wrote in tribute to his mother.
