12/10/18
With the sounds of Hail To The Chief, former President George Herbert Walker Bush began his final day in Washington. The flag-draped casket of the former president, vice president, CIA director, envoy, congressman and oilman was carried down the steps of the U. S. Capitol.
As his five surviving children and their spouses watched, the casket was loaded into a hearse bearing the presidential seal.
The motorcade crept down Pennsylvania Avenue, passing Bush's onetime home at number 1600 as an honor guard stood at attention.
The 41st president arrived at the National Cathedral right before 11 am. Deliver your servant George, sovereign Lord Christ from all evil and set him free from every bond.
As the nation's current and former presidents looked on from the front row, Bush was eulogized by friends, family and those who knew him best during his long career of public service.
Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson reminded the crowd of how much Bush loved a good joke but could never, ever remember the punchline.
And I mean never - so the punchline for George Herbert Walker Bush is this. You would have wanted him on your side.
He never lost his sense of humor. Humor is the universal solvent against the abrasive elements of life. That's what humor is.
He never hated anyone. He knew what his mother and my mother always knew. Hatred corrodes the container it's carried in. When it came time to sum up what made his father's life great, George W. Bush, 43, quoted his dad's inaugural address -
an address that encouraged Americans to leave their children more than material things - like, be good parents; be good citizens, good neighbors.
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