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    remembering barbara bush

    Barbara Bush's old laundry and our other funny First Lady memories

    CultureMap Staff
    Apr 24, 2018 | 6:00 am

     Editor’s note: Our CultureMap staff recalls two charming and personal stories regarding former first lady Barbara Bush.

     

     Barbara Bush’s practical beauty and a unique housewarming gift
     David Gow, CEO of Gow Media

     

    In 1963, my father got a job working for George H.W. Bush, and so my parents moved to Houston. To welcome my mother to town, Barbara Bush threw her a housewarming party — a fun gathering of about a dozen young Houston moms.

     

    Toward the end of the party, the women sat in a circle and my mother opened a bounty of housewarming gifts. She received a toaster, a cake-holder, a knife set, etc. — everything a young woman setting up her home might need.
     
    Or so she thought. Barbara Bush stepped over and handed my mom a large trash bag. At the least, this gift did not “show” as well as the others.
     
    My mom pulled out the contents one by one: old bath towels, carefully cut into pieces of four.
     
    Hmmm.
     
    My mother tried to seem just as delighted with this gift as she had with the others. Bath towels, old bath towels. “Well, thank you,” she said.
     
    The room got quiet. And then Barbara explained: When she had moved to Houston, people had given her all kinds of nice things. But what she found she lacked — what she needed — was old hand towels for cleaning. Barbara’s explanation, delivered in her matter-of-fact manner, seemed to strike a chord. The women all laughed with approval.
     
    My mother used to love to tell this story about Barbara. To be sure, she was proud that Barbara Bush (!) had thrown her a party; but far more, she loved what the story revealed about Barbara. Barbara was a practical person who understood and cared about the practical needs of others.
     
    Hearing the remembrances this weekend, I was reminded of this story. This attribute is what people loved about Barbara. Her top charity was a practical need: literacy. As a mother, she did not indulge, but cared for her children — with everyday diligence. As a first lady, though thrust into elegance, she exuded authenticity. She ascended to fame, but always remained grounded. Now she has ascended again, to the heavens. My mother, who passed away two years ago, will be there to meet her — likely with a large bag of towels, exactly what Barbara would want.

     

     Barbara Bush kept me out of jail
     Steven Devadanam, editor of CultureMap Houston
     
    The Bush compound seemed so storybook, nestled atop rocks that jutted out of the Atlantic. I can still remember the sounds of waves massaging the Maine shoreline in the quiet calm summer night of 1999, as I approached the president’s sprawling, shingled home — dead set on trespassing.

     

    My family and I had spent a picturesque day in Kennebunkport; we dined on lobster and strolled the quaint shops of Dock Square. We nibbled on ice cream cones and taffy; chatted with locals; and immersed ourselves in the effortless charm of this quiet Maine town, which the Bush family called home in the summers.
     
    All that resplendent charm? Not charming enough, as I was hell-bent on “visiting” the Bush compound and securing evidence, say, a small rock.
     
    My girlfriend at the time thought that a rock from the Bush home would be a charming addition to her mantle — and easy to procure. (Ah, privilege.)

     

    It seemed an easy plan: I’d simply saunter up, find a suitable rock, and escape. (Selfies weren’t a thing yet.) It was well past 9 pm when I made my way — against the wishes, nay, orders of my family — onto the long Bush family driveway. I made it to the gate. Was I inside? I needed to find a rock.
     
    Wait...why was a rock so hard to find on the rocky Maine coastline? That thought turned to terror as blinding lights flashed into my eyes. I stood still — perfectly still. A jeep pulled up, manned by a very serious pair of men. The gravity of the situation dawned on me. A young, suspicious Indian man was standing on the property of one of the most powerful families on the globe.
     
    “Can we help ... ” they started, but I interrupted in panic.
     
    “I’m so sorry. God, I’m so sorry. My girlfriend told me to get a rock from the president’s home. She’s a big fan of Barbara’s. Please don’t kill me. I’m from Houston and my mom works in Tanglewood and has met President Bush and I’m an Astros fan and I love 41 and I’m here on vacation but my family lives in Boston, but ...”
     
    I couldn’t stop talking. Why wouldn’t I stop talking?
     
    After several minutes, I heard them on their phone: “Yes ma’am. We’ll tell him.”
     
    They turned to me sternly, but with a slight air of bemusement. The agent with an Astros hat on (a good sign) addressed me.
     
    “She says you can get your rock. And go. She says hi to your girlfriend.”
     
    In all my political and social dealings since, I sadly never got the chance to thank the Former First Lady. But I got my rock — which I kept, for my trouble.

    And I have eternal gratitude to the rock of America’s royal family.

    A young Barbara Bush offered an interesting gift.

    young Barbara Bush and George Bush
      
    Courtesy photo
    A young Barbara Bush offered an interesting gift.
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    Flood News

    More rain brings further flood risk as Texas death toll tops 100

    Associated Press
    Jul 7, 2025 | 9:36 am
    Death Toll Rises After Flash Floods In Texas Hill Country
    Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images
    Death toll rises after flash floods In Texas Hill Country

    With more rain on the way, the risk of life-threatening flooding was still high in Central Texas on July 7 even as crews searched urgently for the missing following a holiday weekend deluge that killed at least 100 people, including children at summer camps. Officials said the death toll was sure to rise.

    Residents of Kerr County began clearing mud and salvaging what they could from their demolished properties as they recounted harrowing escapes from rapidly rising floodwaters late July 4.

    Reagan Brown said his parents, in their 80s, managed to escape uphill as water inundated their home in the town of Hunt. When the couple learned that their 92-year-old neighbor was trapped in her attic, they went back and rescued her.

    “Then they were able to reach their toolshed up higher ground, and neighbors throughout the early morning began to show up at their toolshed, and they all rode it out together,” Brown said.

    A few miles away, rescuers maneuvering through challenging terrain filled with snakes continued their search for the missing, including 10 girls and a counselor from Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp that sustained massive damage.

    Gov. Greg Abbott said 41 people were unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.

    In the Hill Country area, home to several summer camps, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said. Ten other deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, according to local officials.

    The governor warned that additional rounds of heavy rains lasting into Tuesday could produce more dangerous flooding, especially in places already saturated.

    Families were allowed to look around the camp beginning Sunday morning. One girl walked out of a building carrying a large bell. A man whose daughter was rescued from a cabin on the highest point in the camp walked a riverbank, looking in clumps of trees and under big rocks.

    One family left with a blue footlocker. A teenage girl had tears running down her face as they slowly drove away and she gazed through the open window at the wreckage.

    Searching the disaster zone
    Nearby crews operating heavy equipment pulled tree trunks and tangled branches from the river. With each passing hour, the outlook of finding more survivors became even more bleak.

    Volunteers and some families of the missing came to the disaster zone and searched despite being asked not to do so.
    Authorities faced growing questions about whether enough warnings were issued in an area long vulnerable to flooding and whether enough preparations were made.

    President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr County and said he would likely visit Friday: “I would have done it today, but we’d just be in their way.”

    “It’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible,” he told reporters.

    Prayers from the Vatican
    Gov. Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He declared July 6 a day of prayer for the state.

    In Rome, Pope Leo XIV offered special prayers for those touched by the disaster. The first American pope spoke in English at the end of his Sunday noon blessing, saying, “I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.”

    Desperate refuge and trees and attics
    Survivors shared terrifying stories of being swept away and clinging to trees as rampaging floodwaters carried trees and cars past them. Others fled to attics, praying the water wouldn’t reach them.

    At Camp Mystic, a cabin full of girls held onto a rope strung by rescuers as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs. Among those confirmed dead were an 8-year-old girl from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was at Camp Mystic, and the director of another camp up the road.

    Two school-age sisters from Dallas were missing after their cabin was swept away. Their parents were staying in a different cabin and were safe, but the girls’ grandparents were unaccounted for.

    Warnings came before the disaster
    On Thursday the National Weather Service advised of potential flooding and then sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare alert notifying of imminent danger.

    Authorities and elected officials have said they did not expect such an intense downpour, the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.

    Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said authorities are committed to a full review of the emergency response.

    Trump, asked whether he was still planning to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that was something “we can talk about later, but right now we are busy working.” He has said he wants to overhaul if not completely eliminate FEMA and sharply criticized its performance.

    Trump also was asked whether he planned to rehire any of the federal meteorologists who were fired this year as part of widespread government spending cuts.

    “I would think not. This was a thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it. Nobody saw it. Very talented people there, and they didn’t see it,” the president said.

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