Former first lady Barbara Bush said years before her death that she did not fear the end because of her faith in God.
Barbara, who passed away Tuesday evening after declining further treatment for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, explained her views on death and the stalwart faith in God that she shared with her family in a 2013 interview with C-SPAN as part of a series on first ladies. She said that while her faith was very private, she sincerely believed in a loving God and that God dispelled any fear of death.
“I’m a huge believer in a loving God,” Barbara said. “And I have no fear of death, which is a huge comfort because we’re getting darned close. And I don’t have a fear of death for my precious George or for myself because I know that there is a great God.”
She added that she did not like the prospect of death for young people, but that she knew that when she died she would be reunited with her daughter Robin, who died at age three, as well as others in her family.
“I have a great faith. That sounds so arrogant. I’m a big shot. ‘I have a faith in God,'” She added as an aside in a moment of self humbling. “I do have a faith in God, and I don’t question it.”
Barbara added that she did not believe that her faith was as strong as that of her children and that she learned much about faith from them.
“But I have no fear of death. And I think that’s very comforting,” she said.
Former President George W. Bush confirmed that, five years later, Barbara held the same courageous attitude during the few days before her death that she expressed in 2013.
“It will not surprise those who know her that Barbara Bush has been a rock in the face of her failing health, worrying not for herself — thanks to her abiding faith — but for others. She is surrounded by a family she adores, and appreciates the many kind messages and especially the prayers she is receiving,” the former president said in a statement on Sunday before she passed away.
Barbara died at age 92. She was an avowed Episcopalian, as is her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, with whom she prayed every night and attended St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston.
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