LAURA BUSH: THE INTERVIEW

THE FORMER FIRST LADY IS “HAPPY AND GRATEFUL” FOR HER KENNEBUNKPORT SUMMERS.

(But no pickle ball!)

“George and I walk the beach nearly every morning when we’re here in Kennebunkport,” Laura Bush said. “But if he decides to take a spin class instead, I’ll go with his sister Doro, his brothers or visiting friends. Those walks along the ocean are what I truly miss and remember most when we head back to Texas.” 

After eight years serving as America’s First Lady — when she traveled to 76 countries (28 without President George W. Bush by her side), championed education reform and women’s health issues, initiated  national book festivals while simultaneously overseeing last-minute details of celebrity-studded state dinners and diplomatic receptions at the White House — Laura Bush treasures “these relaxed and casual days” of post-Presidential life.

True … she still cannot leave the gates at Walker’s Point, the nine-plus-acre family estate on Ocean Avenue, without Secret Service agents hovering an elbow’s-length away. She travels in shiny black SUVs driven by stern-faced agents for pop-in visits to the Northlight Gallery or True North Gallery (“our favorites”), or shops in Dock Square. When the Bush family dines at nearby Ocean Restaurant, she says, “We always order before we arrive so that we can get in and out without causing a fuss.” 

Even when attending local events, such as last July’s “Secret Garden Tour” sponsored by Kennebunkport’s Graves Library, head-swivels, whispers and murmurs start the minute she appears. “Look, there’s Laura Bush!”“Oh, she’s lovely.” “And so trim!” 

The former First Lady is unquestionably aware of the stares and stealthily-snapped iPhone photos, but she walks quietly, eyes glancing somewhat downward, yet smiling discretely. As she wrote in her 2010 autobiography, SPOKEN FROM THE HEART, “I wonder when the novelty of our lives will diminish, and George and I will occupy more of the background.

That may never happen, judging from the steady stream of “Bush-watchers” who gather daily along a bluff on Ocean Avenue, just across the cove from “the big house” on Walker’s Point. On foggy June mornings, hazy July afternoons, even during scattered August showers, buses, RVs and cars pull in constantly to park and photograph the family estate, especially when the Texas flag hangs next to the Stars and Stripes on the two flagpoles. “They’re here!”

“Here” is a century-old sprawling grey-shingled home straddling the rocky peninsula, hemmed by summer gardens blooming with pink and blue alliums, sweet peas and daisies. Formerly owned by President George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife Barbara, “the big house” became the summer residence of George W. and Laura after his parents’ deaths four years ago. 

“We miss them so much but we do enjoy living in this house,” Laura Bush says. One of her favorite spots is the spacious and gracious living room. “The natural light is so good here and it’s a wonderful place to sit and read, especially on rainy afternoons.”  (She had just finished — “and enjoyed very much” — THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY: A NOVEL by Amor Towles.)

The row of living room windows facing the Atlantic Ocean offers a technicolor vista of lobster boats chugging home to port and sailboats tacking in the wind. Pale turquoise walls (“they’re calmed with white,” Laura said), plush ecru area rugs atop wooden-plank floors, and lengthy nap-perfect sofas upholstered with muted Ralph Lauren floral prints establish a sense of serenity. Even the soft-hued painting of Walker’s Point by local artist Robert Paine, which hangs above the fieldstone fireplace, enhances the zen.

The sole splash of color is a painting on a wall across the room near the jigsaw puzzle table. “George painted that,” Laura Bush explains proudly, pointing to the bright and bold impressionistic rendering of the residence. “He had such fun doing it.“

The jigsaw puzzle table gets “a lot of use,” Laura said. “Barbara Bush was the master of puzzles and enjoyed doing them with her grandchildren, and we are continuing that tradition. But Bar also taught me a lesson about doing jigsaws. Early in my marriage, she told me, ‘Just sit here, listen and learn, because people open up when they’re working on puzzles. You can ask the most innocuous questions, and they’ll ramble away and you find out a lot about them and their world.’ She was so right.”

For both Laura and George Bush, summers at Walker’s Point focus on family, both nuclear and extended. “George’s brothers and sister each own homes here, so we see them daily,” she said. “Every night we all walk our dogs around the property.” (When they come for the summer, the Bushes bring their mixed-breed rescue dog Freddy, along with “Barn Cat Bob" who “just showed up at our Texas ranch one day.")

“Pickle ball is a big deal out here,” Laura added, "especially when all the cousins and grandkids arrive. We’ll gather at the two pickle ball courts late in the day and the games get quite competitive.” Asked if she played, Laura put her palms up, laughed and said, “Not me! I’m only a spectator.”

“Now we have our own grandchildren visiting during the summer!” Laura Bush added. “Despite busy jobs and careers, our daughters Jenna and Barbara like to come and recreate with their children the fun and games they had when Bar was in charge. I don’t organize activities quite like my mother-in-law did but I absolutely LOVE having them here and I’m thrilled to be a grandmother!”

Jenna, 41, and named in honor of Laura’s mother, is an author and journalist who co-hosts the fourth hour of NBC’s TODAY. She and husband Henry Hager are parents of nine-year-old Margaret (“Mila”), six-year-old Poppy and two-year-old Hal.  

Her twin sister Barbara, named for her paternal grandmother, co-founded Global Health Corps, an organization that mobilizes young leaders to solve the world’s most pressing health issues. She is married to Craig Coyne and, in September 2021, gave birth to their first child in a hospital named after her late grandmother, the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland, Maine. “She’ll be baptized here in Kennebunkport at Saint Ann’s Episcopal Church late this summer,” Laura added.

Laura Bush first arrived in Kennebunkport as a new bride 45 years ago. An only child who’d grown up in the unpretentious oil town of Midland, Texas, she enjoyed the welcoming embrace of the exuberant world-traveled Bush siblings. She loved how George “made me laugh.” Her mother-in-law, however, the formidable “Silver Fox,” was a bit more challenging. 

As noted in her autobiography, Laura initially found Barbara Bush to be “ferociously tart-tongued.” But as they got to know each other better (perhaps at the jigsaw puzzle table?), and discovered their shared passion for reading and books, “I grew to love her,” Laura said. “She was an amazing woman in so many ways, and I miss her every day."

Laura’s blue eyes sparkle whenever she mentions her husband George. “We are anchored to each other,” she wrote in SPOKEN FROM THE HEART of the man she affectionately calls “Bushie.” They both grew up in Midland, “and probably passed each other in the hallways during seventh grade.” 

Years later, in late July, 1977, a chance meeting at the Midland home of friends sparked their whirlwind romance. “Our childhoods overlapped so completely and our worlds were so intertwined, it was as if we’d known each other our whole lives,” she wrote. On their first date, George took Laura to play miniature golf

That November, the librarian who’d graduated in 1968 from Southern Methodist University, and later earned her Masters in library science from the University of Texas at Austin, married George W. Bush, budding oil entrepreneur. They were both 31 years old and had no inkling that within two decades George would be elected governor of Texas, or that in 2000 she would move with her husband, the newly-elected President of the United States, into the White House.

Over the ensuing eight years as the nation’s First Lady, Laura Bush championed women’s health issues along with pre-school education. She created the Ready to Read, Ready to Learn initiative, conducted White House summits on early childhood development, and hosted conferences on Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers. She inaugurated the Library of Congress’ National Book Festival and became the first presidential spouse to deliver the White House weekly radio address in which she highlighted the Taliban’s repressive treatment of Afghan women. 

With her thoughtful and dignified manner, bolstered by a wry sense of humor and ready smile, Laura Bush became one of the 43rd President’s greatest assets. “We loved our years in the White House. I took great pleasure in the chance to keep and conserve it, and work on projects such as restoring the elegant silk wall covering in the Green Room that Jackie Kennedy had selected more than four decades before.  But we always knew it was a temporary home,” she wrote in her autobiography. 

On January 20, 2008, the Bushes flew back to Texas to begin life anew as “everyday citizens” at their beloved Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford. She wrote, “We reached our land in the dark. George parked his mountain bikes in the garage, and we unloaded the luggage. I was struck by the stillness. There were no staff members, no briefers, no military aides. The grounds were quiet, except for the rustle of the Texas winter wind, the murmur of our own voices, and the soft shuffle of our feet on the crushed stone.” 

Sic transit gloria.

Today George and Laura Bush divide their time between a ranch-style brick home in Dallas, their 1583-acre ranch seven miles north of Crawford, Texas, and “the big house” on Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport. “Here in Maine especially, we do feel a great sense of freedom,” Laura said. 

“People let us live our lives and for that I am very happy.”

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HOW IT HAPPENED….

It wasn’t easy to secure an interview with former First Lady Laura Bush. I sensed that she treasures privacy. I’d heard she eschews talking publicly about politics and cultural issues. But I knew the lady had a story to tell!

I was able to obtain the name of her private secretary and emailed her. “Would Mrs. Bush be willing to sit down with me and discuss her summers here in Maine?” (That was the gist of a much longer email.) 

Two days later I received an email from her secretary, indicating that Mrs. Bush would be happy to talk about her summers in Maine. Would I mind submitting my questions first?

I did, my questions passed muster, and we set the interview date for late June. On the scheduled morning, I met my friend Bob Dennis (the premier photographer in Southern Maine) outside the gates of Walker Point, the 9-acre peninsula and family compound that juts into the Atlantic and where each of President George H. W. Bush’s children have homes. 

Having submitted photos of our car license plates and drivers’ licenses several days before, Bob and I made it through the Gate House without a hassle. The security agent then instructed us to park in a small lot near “the Big House.” Standing next to my Subaru Outback, I debated whether or not I should lock the car. Here I was, inside a heavily guarded compound with security cameras in full view and stern-looking agents peeking out from every bush and tree, but suppose someone stole my golf visor or one of my Hannaford shopping bags?

I locked the car.

A security guard then drove Bob and me in a golf cart to the front of the Big House where Laura and George Bush live during their Maine summers. A smiling Laura stood there with an aide. As she walked down the front steps, she was the epitome of charm, graciousness and hospitality. “Hello, Val! Hello, Bob! What a perfect day we have for this.”

And yes, it was perfect indeed.