Thousands are expected to pay their respects to the former First Lady Barbara Bush in Houston, Friday in a viewing for the general public that will last from noon to midnight.
Bush’s body will lie in repose at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church at 717 Sage Road in Houston, the nation’s largest Episcopal church.
People lined up hours early to attend the viewing a the nation’s largest Episcopal church, where Barbara and her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, regularly attended services.
Many women are wearing blue, Barbara’s favorite color, and pearls, her go-to neckwear jewelry.
A hearse containing the former first lady’s casket arrived at church before daybreak.
Former U.S. first lady Barbara Bush, the wife of the 41st president, George H.W. Bush, and mother of the 43rd, George W. Bush, lies in repose at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas
Barbara, pictured laughing alongside her husband, former President George H.W. Bush. The former First Lady passed away at 92-years-old on Tuesday
An invitation-only funeral is set for Saturday. She’ll be buried later in the day behind her husband’s presidential library. The gated plot is in an area surrounded by trees and near a creek where the couple’s 3-year-old daughter, Robin, is buried. She died of leukemia in 1953.
The public must go to the Second Baptist Church at 6400 Woodway Drive to park and pass through security. The parking lots can be entered from Voss Road.
Metro is providing shuttles to and from St. Martin’s. The parking lot at Second Baptist will open at 10am, and shuttles will start running at 11:30am.
A by-invitation-only funeral is scheduled for Saturday at St. Martin’s.
Burial will be on the grounds of the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, about 100 miles northwest of Houston.
The couple’s 3-year-old daughter, Robin, who died in 1953 of leukemia, also is buried at the site.
Her funeral is expected to be attended by her family, which includes husband George H.W. Bush, sons George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, Neil Bush and Marvin Bush, daughter Dorothy Bush Koch and more.
President Donald Trump won’t be joining on Saturday, instead First Lady Melania will go in his place.
St. Martin’s Episcopal Church is the the nation’s largest Episcopal church. Barbara’s body will lie in repose there until Saturday
On Saturday after a private service, Barbara’s body will be buried on the grounds of the George Bush Presidential Library
FPresident George H.W. Bush raises his right hand as he is sworn into office as the 41st president of the United States by Chief Justice William Rehnquist outside the west front of the Capitol on Jan. 20, 1989. First lady Barbara Bush holds the bible for her husband (file)
First lady Barbara Bush poses with her dog Millie in Washington in 1990. Barbara Bush, the snowy-haired first lady whose plainspoken manner and utter lack of pretense made her more popular at times than her husband, President George H.W. Bush, died Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Bush was the matriarch of a political dynasty that Trump often clashed with during his 2016 campaign.
The White House says Trump will not attend ‘to avoid disruptions due to added security, and out of respect for the Bush Family and friends attending the service.’
The president is expected to be at his Florida estate this weekend.
Trump has offered his condolences to the Bush family, calling Barbara Bush ‘a titan in American life.’
Bush died Tuesday at her Houston home. She was 92.