Mr. Bush also told mourners at the National Cathedral Wednesday of the last conversation he had with his father, when he was told last week that the elder Mr. Bush had only "minutes to live." Mr. Bush said he was also informed that his father hadn't spoken in some time, but it was thought that he could hear him. So, over the phone, George W. Bush told his father that he loved him.
"I said 'Dad, I love you and you've been a wonderful father.' And the last words he would ever say on earth were, 'I love you, too,'" he said.
- Full transcript of President George W. Bush's eulogy to his father (.pdf)
- Thousands honor former President George H.W. Bush at National Cathedral funeral
Former President George W. Bush speaks at the State Funeral for his father, former President George H.W. Bush, at the National Cathedral, December 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. (POOL / ALEX BRANDON-POOL/GETTY IMAGES)
Much of former president's eulogy focused on his remembrances of George H.W. Bush as a father and husband, as well as a politician. He discussed how, after the death of his young daughter Robin, "he believed that he would hold his precious Robin again." And he reminisced about the closeness of his father and his late mother, Barbara Bush.
"Every day of his 73 years of marriage, Dad taught us all what it means to be a great husband," he said. He married his sweetheart. He adored her. He laughed and cried with her." Later, he said, the two of them would watch police show reruns, "volume up on high, all the while holding mom's hand. After mom died, Dad was strong, but all he really wanted to do was to hold mom's hand again."
