Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Bush family keeps funeral private for clan matriarch Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 14:12:10 EST Message-ID: Lines: 96 \SE A;NATION \SS (WS) \HD Bush family keeps funeral private for clan matriarch \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT GREENWICH, Conn. GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) - President Bush led the mourners yesterday at the funeral of Dorothy Walker Bush, his 91-year-old mother and matriarch of the Bush clan. More than a hundred people attended the private funeral service in Christ Church here in the town where Dorothy and Prescott Bush raised their five children. Mrs. Bush died last Thursday after a stroke. Presiding over the service were the Rev. John M. Allin, the former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States and rector of the churches Mrs. Bush attended during summers at Kennebunkport, Maine, and winters in Jupiter Island, Fla. He was assisted by the Rev. Terence L. Elsberry, the senior associate rector at Christ Church, and the Rev. James Lee Walker. After the 45-minute service, a hearse took the coffin off for cremation, and the president, his wife, Barbara, and other relatives spent 25 minutes outside the church greeting relatives and others who attended the by-invitation-only service. No reporters or White House staff were allowed inside the church. The president was smiling as he greeted other mourners outside the stone church while bells pealed overhead. Afterward, Mr. Bush and his immediate relatives, including his three brothers and one sister, went to Mrs. Bush's nearby home for three hours before the interment of their mother's ashes at Putnam Cemetery. The president and his wife and their five children flew in a U.S. Air Force jet from Washington to White Plains, N.Y., yesterday morning. They drove to Greenwich on a sunny morning for the service at Christ Church, a 287-year-old Episcopal church where Mrs. Bush had been a parishioner since World War II. Also at the funeral was former baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent. The oldest and youngest Bush brothers, Prescott and William, spoke during the service, but the president did not, one woman said as she left the church. The Bushes were accompanied by White House Chief of Staff James A. Baker III and his wife, Susan. Vice President Dan Quayle flew in separately and Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady, a longtime family friend, also attended the service. Mrs. Bush was remembered by friends for her compassion and down-to-earth attitude. "Dottie and the people in her circle were very, very committed people and really got involved in social issues," said Bernie Yudain, longtime friend of the Bush family and a former Greenwich Time managing editor. He said Mrs. Bush helped found the Greenwich Shelter for Children, which includes a family center, counseling center and day care center. "They really got their hands dirty," he said. "She was the epitome of the group. The people who grew up with her just absolutely idolized her." Mrs. Bush was born July 1, 1901, in Kennebunkport, Maine, a daughter of wealthy Midwestern businessman George Herbert Walker and Lulie Wear Walker. She grew up in St. Louis and attended the Farmington School Academy, a prep school in Farmington, Conn. She and Prescott Bush, a financier and businessman, were married in 1921. The couple moved to Tennessee, then Massachusetts, where the future president, their second son, was born in 1924. After settling in Greenwich with her husband in 1926, Mrs. Bush became active in community affairs. She also was the author of a column in the local paper, the Greenwich Time. At the time of her death, Mrs. Bush still volunteered for the Red Cross and a local welfare agency. Prescott Bush eventually entered politics, representing Connecticut in the U.S. Senate from 1952 to 1963. He died of lung cancer in 1972. President Bush said his parents were the most important people in his life. His 1987 autobiography, "Looking Forward," is dedicated to them. In addition to the president, Mrs. Bush is survived by a daughter, Nancy Ellis, sons Prescott Jr., Jonathan and William "Bucky" Bush, and more than three dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM