On Tuesday, April 17, 2018, former first lady Barbara Pierce Bush left this mortal coil from the comfort of her family’s home in Texas.

May she rest in peace.

Along with many over the past week, my condolences go to the Bush family, who will sorely miss her wisdom, wit, vim and vigour.

The Conservative board on Reddit had a great portrait of her along with a prescient quote of hers about life:

At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child or a parent. 

Mrs Bush was an Episcopalian.

Many years ago, my Episcopalian rector, also since deceased, told our congregation in at least one sermon that he met many people on their deathbeds who regretted not taking chances in life. The one thing they asked time and again was, ‘What if I’d only done this or that?’

It is unlikely that Barbara Bush had any such regrets.

I’m sorry that she never got to sit down with President Trump for a cup of tea and a natter in 2016. They would have got on well. And, yes, she would have made a better presidential candidate than her son Jeb in 2016, but that’s all water under the dam now.

Millions of Americans appreciate Mrs Bush’s dignified, high-WASP tenure as First Lady between 1989 and 1993. By all accounts, she was also a marvellous wife, mother and friend.

May God keep her close to Him for eternity.