Former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush reflected on the life of Barbara Bush in an interview Wednesday on Fox Business, praising the former First Lady as a warm woman of faith who never lost her sense of humor.
Barbara Bush died on Tuesday night at age 92. She was one of only two women in America history to be both the wife and mother of a U.S. President. She and her husband President George H. W. Bush were married for 73 years.
George W. Bush called his mother "awesome" and relayed she didn't stop needling him until the end. According to his telling, she told the doctor during a visit shortly before her death, "You know why George W. is the way he is? Because I drank and smoked when I was pregnant with him."
"She was warm and wonderful until you got out of line," President Bush joked.
He said his father was at Barbara's side when she died.
Laura Bush said her mother-in-law was a "great role model" and taught her how to be a First Lady, calling her "fierce and funny." She said she also picked up Barbara's focus on literacy as one of her missions when she was in the White House.