Midland's Desert Marigold

Bush with school children in 2005 -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I just finished listening to Laura Bush’s memoire, Spoken from the Heart. I’ve always liked Laura, and the plain-spoken, sincere and evocative life story that she delivers here just solidifies that impression. Her background in education and reading shines through – she gives vivid descriptions of her Midland origins. You might feel like you’re there yourself -- enduring a dust storm, spying a horned toad in the garden or counting the stars on a Midland summer night. Her gift of words is a welcome counter-balance to the often ineloquent speech of her husband. In fact, Laura’s story makes the entire family seem more endearing; the Bush’s remind me of many of my own relatives.

Mind you, I wouldn’t want to see any of these relatives as President with their hardened attitudes about race and religion, but they are nonetheless well-meaning people who’ve been exemplary in many other ways. It’s a complicated world – hard to write off every person with whom you have an intellectual quarrel.

Laura was an only child, born in 1946 to a Midland home builder and his wife. The Welch’s were middle class but her father, Harold Welch was a “mover-and-shaker” who did well in his real estate business. He situated the family near the best schools and soon had his shy, bookish Laura enrolled with the scions of oil families. Despite her shyness, Laura was pretty and blue-eyed – she dated several prominent young men. At 17, Laura was in a tragic car accident driving her father’s Impala. She failed to see the other car -- a Corvair driven (ironically) by a former boyfriend. He was killed instantly, causing grief to the entire small town of Midland. Laura was deeply affected and says that she has pangs of guilt and sorrow to this day. Some political enemies later tried to portray it as a cover-up; there was no cover up – just a community moving past a local and unchangeable tragedy.

Laura went to SMU and graduated in 1968 with a degree in education. She added a Masters in Library Science in 1973. She taught at various public schools and libraries in Houston and Austin, finally settling at Austin’s Dawson elementary in 1977. She loved Austin (as does blogSpotter the author) so we share this central Texas affinity. Shy, sweet 31 year-old Laura, who read Russian novels while sunbathing, was about to have her life take a major turn. On a visit to Midland, her friends introduced Laura (the self-dubbed “old maid of Midland”) to George W. Bush, “Midland’s most eligible bachelor”. George was smitten with Laura and they married 3 months later. Some of Midland society was aghast – George married someone from the middle class.

From here, Laura’s story becomes a blur of political races and historical data, peppered with a few personal events. The couple had trouble conceiving a child and were about to adopt when twins Jenna and Barbara were born in 1981. She felt a chill from her mother-in-law Barbara Bush, who closed ranks with immediate family and served tart, judgmental remarks to the young Laura. They later became closer after shared experience as first ladies. George had mixed successes as an oil man and baseball team owner. His fortunes changed for the better when he quit drinking at Laura’s request in 1986. He redirected his focus to helping his father’s campaigns in ’88 and ’92 and then to his own gubernatorial race in ’94. The camera-shy Laura had a national audience when she spoke at the 2000 Republican Convention for George’s Presidential nomination.

This isn’t a George Story so we’ll leave out the (still, I think) sorry details of Dubya’s term in office. For her part, Laura worked on several causes – she wasn’t the Stepford robot that some accused her of being. She supported literacy – the National Book Festival was one of several such programs she started. She worked for women’s health issues – Heart Truth and Susan Komen foundation benefited from her work. Laura also traveled the world and promoted cures for HIV/AIDS as well as malaria awareness. Laura described herself several times as “apolitical”. However, she has come out in several different forums as pro-Choice and pro-gay marriage which put her leftward of Bush and his cronies. She also seems better-spoken and less doctrinaire – is at any wonder that she was voted by Gallup as one of the most popular first ladies in history? Her presence helped to soften the brunt of the Dubya Bush policy debacles.

When push comes to shove, Laura is a staunch defender of her much-maligned husband – you still have to love her for (apologies to both Tammy Wynette and Hillary) standing by her man. She makes some valid observations about the incredibly crass, negative discourse that’s come about in our pop culture. The negativity goes both ways and Obama has been on the receiving end of it more recently.

In all, Laura Bush is a charming woman, whose common-sense approach to life and basic decency come through in all her life’s chapters. If you listen to the book on tape, you’ll get to hear Laura’s Midland accent -- she and George emphasize the sibilant plurals “our heartsss” and “fragrant grassessss”. It’s all good, and if you’re a native Texan, Laura’s story will be in many ways like a trip to a long-forgotten prairie home.

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