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REUTERS
HOUSTON
Former US president George HW Bush’s family took centrE stage at his funeral in Houston on Thursday, with personal tributes, grandsons who knew him better as “Gampy” serving as honourary pallbearers and granddaughters reading from the Bible.
Thursday’s service took place at St Martin’s Episcopal Church, where Bush worshipped for more than 50 years, with more than 1,000 mourners singing ‘America the Beautiful’.
George W Bush, who followed his father to the White House, making just the second father-son pair of presidents in US history, sat in the front pew near the flag-draped casket.
George P Bush, son of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and one of the former president’s 17 grandchildren, reminisced about fly fishing and sharing Blue Bell Creameries ice cream, a well-known Texas brand, as a child with the man he called ‘Gampy’.
James Baker, who served as Bush’s secretary of state and was a longtime friend, eulogised the former president as a peacemaker and “a truly beautiful human being.” “He was not considered a skilled speaker, but his deeds were quite eloquent and he demonstrated their eloquence by carving them into the hard granite of history.”
Mourners laughed as Baker recalled how Bush would let him know a conversation was over: “’Baker, if you’re so smart, why am I president and you’re not?’” His voice cracking at moments, Baker said he was at his friend’s deathbed last week.
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07/12/2018
1103