Houston says goodbye to Bush

About 1,200 guests attended an invitation-only funeral service for former President George H.W. Bush on Thursday in his adopted state of Texas. Bush died Friday at the age of 94. After a state funeral Wednesday in Washington, D.C., his body was transported back to Houston, where it lay in repose at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church. From Wednesday until early Thursday, nearly 12,000 people came to the church to pay their respects.

Some of Bush’s favorite country stars offered musical tributes at his Houston service. The Oak Ridge Boys sang a rendition of “Amazing Grace” and Reba McEntire sang “The Lord’s Prayer.”

“We’re here to say goodbye to a man of great faith and great integrity,” said James Baker, secretary of state at the time of Bush’s presidency and a close friend of the former president. “His wish for a kinder, gentler nation was not a cynical, political slogan. It came honest from his soul.” Bush’s grandson George Prescott Bush also offered a tribute.

After the service, a special train is transporting his casket roughly 70 miles to College Station, where it will be buried on the grounds of his presidential library at Texas A&M University next to the graves of Barbara Bush, his wife of 73 years who died in April, and his daughter Pauline Robinson “Robin” Bush, who died of leukemia at age 3 in 1953. The train, numbered 4141, is painted the colors of Air Force One during Bush’s presidency. In a special tribute, the U.S. Navy will fly a record-breaking, 21-aircraft missing man formation over his interment ceremony in in honor of his naval service. The missing man formation typically only involves four planes.

Bush’s headstone will be inscribed with his U.S. Navy identification number and the words, “He loved Barbara very much.”