The Bush Family, 1998, by Ashley Wroten
From MemoryArchive
Who: Ashley Wroten What: The Bush Family When: 1998 Where: Barbara Bush Middle School, San Antonio, Texas
My school district decided that it needed to build an additional middle school to relieve the others from such overwhelming class sizes. So, for my eighth grade year, I attended the brand new school, Barbara Bush Middle School. This was, as you could guess, an extremely Republican school district; the next year a new high school was finished and it was named Ronald Reagan High School! Anyway, midway through the inaugural year at Bush Middle School, we had a huge ceremony in which we dedicated the school to its namesake, Barbara Bush. This was a giant ordeal, especially for middle school students.
I was in the choir, so we started preparing patriotic arrangements to perform when Mrs. Bush came. There was an electric atmosphere in the whole school in the weeks leading up to the dedication ceremony. Finally, the day arrived. All of us in the choir had to be on stage at some ungodly hour in the morning, while it was still dark outside. We rehearsed and tried to loosen up even though we were incredibly nervous. To make matters worse, TV camera crews started arriving. By the end of our rehearsal, something like 8 separate TV channels were set up, ready to capture the moments. Interestingly, even CNN was there.
Before we could let these distractions get to our heads, we got word that Barbara Bush’s limousine had just pulled up and we needed to be at attention so we would have a crisp beginning to our first piece the instant she entered the auditorium. While the choir had been preparing onstage, Secret Service and security personnel had secured the school, ensuring that all classrooms were under lockdown—no students or teachers could be wandering the halls (even to go to the bathroom) while Mrs. Bush was there. All of the students (aside from us lucky choir folks) watched the ceremony in their homeroom classes through Simulcast, our closed circuit TV network.
Barbara Bush entered the auditorium, walked onstage, and sat down in one of three elegant chairs that had been purchased specifically for the occasion. We serenaded her with several pieces of music, then stood like statues for the entire ceremony, lasting what seemed like days. (We had actually practiced standing absolutely still just for the occasion, believe it or not!) When the master of ceremonies told us to “Give a warm welcome to a very special guest who will be introducing our guest of honor,” my mind raced to think of who this other guest could be. Before I could come up with any good guesses, Texas Governor George W. Bush emerged from backstage and made his way to the microphone. It was all I could do not to turn to my best friend, Tina, and squeal with delight. This was so exciting!
Governor Bush spoke about all the fantastic initiatives of Barbara Bush, and concluded by saying, “Bust best of all, she’s my mom! Everyone welcome my mom, former First Lady Barbara Bush!” Then George W. joined his wife Laura and walked across the stage to the elegant chairs, while Barbara took the podium. She talked about the importance of education and high moral standards. She also told funny stories about both Georges. Honestly, most of her speech was a blur to me because I had the hiccups and was focusing as hard as I could to keep them quiet and unnoticed. When she was finished, we sang a refrain of “America the Beautiful.” Then came the press conference. The reporters mainly asked George W. Bush about the possibility of him running for president. With a twinkle in his eye, and the smirk we are so familiar with now, he diplomatically answered them with phrases such as “I am focused on serving Texas as governor right now,” etc. Then the Bushes thanked the press and came over to chat with the choir; we were still statues on the stage. I remember them being so sweet and humble. They honestly asked us what we were interested in, and anything that we thought needed improvement in the public school system. They had the very familiar West Texas accent that I find so endearing seeing as my family’s roots are also in West Texas. It was an extremely memorable experience that allowed me to see the very human and personal side of this politically-powerful family.
