Barbara Bush Shocked Everyone Hours Before She Died With ‘Forbidden Last Request’
Source: https://goo.gl/Kwaotg
Barbara Bush left the hospital last Monday, knowing she was going home to die. While her husband’s health has been the focus over the last few years, most people were not aware that the former first lady was battling an illness that would claim her life before his. With only hours to live, Mrs. Bush shocked everyone with her “forbidden last request.” Don’t miss this.
Barbara Pierce fell in love with George H. W. Bush the first time she saw him. She was 16 years old, and he was 17 years old. They met at a dance in the midst of World War II, and Barbara would joke, “I married the first boy that kissed me.” The elder Bush was leaving for the war, where he would become the youngest fighter pilot in American history.
Their romance spanned 76 years, and their marriage was the longest of any First Couple at 73 years. What most people don’t know is that it was Barbara’s family who had the political connections. She was a “New England” blue blood and a descendant of Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States.
To understand Mrs. Bush’s final request and her last words, it’s important to know that she started going gray at 28 years old, and the gray hair happened over the saddest thing in her life, which she could never get over. The Washington Post reports, “Barbara Bush, who died Tuesday, said she didn’t fear death. That may be because the 92-year-old former first lady faced it before, in the hardest way imaginable.”
They continue, “In 1953, soon after George H. W. Bush had moved his family to Midland, Tex., to get into the oil business, the couple’s 3-year-old daughter complained about feeling tired. Usually, Pauline Robinson “Robin” Bush, the much-doted-on only girl of the Bush kids, was as rowdy and healthy as her older brother George W. and baby brother Jeb. Barbara decided to take her to a pediatrician.”
Her diagnosis was shockingly abrupt. The doctor called the Bushes a few days later with a word neither had ever heard before: leukemia. The complaint had been fatigue; the prescription was to take their child home to die. Robin passed away a few months later, and Barbara’s brown hair started to go gray. She refused to ever color it, as it was a reminder of Robin, a reminder that life is fleeting.
After the George H. W. Bush Library was established in College Station, Texas, the family had Robin’s body moved to a small, gated burial plot on the grounds.
When Barbara left the hospital Monday, it was her choice to stop treatment for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). “One last time,” is what she said as she was taken back to the Bush’s Houston home, thinking of Robin. Then, a few hours later, she had one final request, saying, “I want some bourbon.”
The night before she died, Barbara Bush was alert and was having conversations — along with a glass of bourbon — despite her COPD making it difficult for her to breathe, a source close to the family told Jenna Gibson of CBS News.
There’s little doubt the bourbon would be forbidden with the medications she was on to keep her comfortable, but that was her final request. And, I don’t think anyone was going to stop Barabra Bush, known as “the enforcer,” from having one last bourbon. She also had her resting place picked out. She will be buried right next to her daughter, Robin.
Americans, liberal and conservative alike, were especially moved by the thought of this former first lady “leaving this good earth” surrounded by her family and sipping bourbon. “She went out on her own terms, sipping bourbon, and in her home surrounded by her family. Political disagreements aside, she was one hell of a lady. RIP, Barbara Bush. This one is for you,” tweeted Twitter user “A Serious Monkey.”
Dotee Penn tweeted, “Even if not a Bush fan— When the matriarch of the Bush clan chooses not hospitalization but home & family & bourbon….. you gotta admit Barbara Bush is transitioning with love & dignity.”
“I just read that in the hours before she passed, despite having trouble breathing, Barbara Bush sat up, drank a bourbon, and had one last chat with her loved ones. Bad ass,” tweeted Shannon Molloy.
“So to recap: when faced with medical intervention or staring death right in its ugly face, Barbara Bush—though barely able to breathe—said, ‘Pass me a bourbon and let’s do this.’ What a lady. God bless her, and make more like her. #RIPBarbaraBush,” tweeted Stephanie Phillips.
Her son, former President George W. Bush, wasn’t there when she died, but he shared their last visit, which was just a few days ago in the hospital, with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo.
George laughed, repeating his mother’s words, saying, “‘Doctor, you want to know why George W. is the way he is?’ And the doctor looked somewhat surprised. And she said, ‘because I drank and smoked when I was pregnant with him,’” proving her sense of humor and timing remained intact until the end.