KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (AP) - Residents paid their respects to former President George H.W. Bush on Saturday by turning a scenic Atlantic Ocean overlook near his home into an impromptu memorial featuring Christmas wreaths, flags and flowers.
A steady stream of people visited the site where’s there’s a large anchor. In the background, the U.S. flag was at half-staff at Bush’s Walker’s Point home.
Tom Bradbury from the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust called him a “wonderful community member, a great neighbor.”
“It’s a time to remember and celebrate the time he spent with us,” he said.
Bush died Friday evening, about eight months after the death of his wife, Barbara Bush. He was 94.
Kennebunkport is a big part of the Bush story. Bush spent at least part of every summer since his childhood at his family’s home here on the coast except for during his time as a naval aviator in World War II. He and Barbara Pierce married in 1945, and theirs became the longest-enduring marriage of any U.S. president.
Together, they hosted family - and world leaders.
Many of the people who stopped by knew the former president, or at least had met him.
“He was a laid back person and he cared about people. You could see that through everything he did. He loved life,” said Sarah Lawrence, who was visiting from Austin, Texas, and used to work for Bush’s foundation.
Jack Wilson, former president at the University of Massachusetts, met Bush at a White House ceremony.
“We wanted to come up and say goodbye to George Herbert Walker Bush, and say thank you for all he did for the country,” he said. “I just felt that I wanted to come out and honor him - and say goodbye.”
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