In Funeral of Pomp and Pageantry, Nation Bids Farewell to George Bush

[music] “Last Friday, when I was told he had minutes to live, I called him. The guy who answered the phone said, ‘I think he can hear you, but he hasn’t said anything for most of the day.’ 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.’ And we’re going to miss you. Your decency, sincerity and kind soul will stay with us forever. So through our tears, let us know the blessings of knowing and loving you, a great and noble man. The best father a son or daughter could have. And in our grief, let us smile knowing that Dad is hugging Robin and holding Mom’s hand again.” “The George Herbert Walker Bush who survived that fiery fall into the waters of the Pacific, three-quarters of a century ago, made our lives and the lives of nations, freer, better, warmer and nobler. That was his mission. That was his heartbeat.” “I believe it will be said that no occupant of the Oval Office was more courageous, more principled and more honorable than George Herbert Walker Bush. President Bush was also responsible for the North American Free Trade Agreement — recently modernized and improved by new administrations — which created the largest and richest free-trade area in the history of the world.” “The most decent and honorable person I ever met was my friend George Bush — one of nature’s noble men. His epitaph, perhaps just a single letter: the letter L for loyalty. It coursed through his blood. Loyalty to his country, loyalty to his family, loyalty to his friends, loyal to the institutions of government and always, always, always a friend to his friends.” “Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect to do his will. Working in you, that which is well pleasing in his sight, the blessing of God Almighty the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be on you and remain with you in this world in which we live, this day and forevermore. Amen.”