National

Jenna Bush Hager pens emotional tribute to grandfather in heartbreaking post

By Courtney Martinez, WSBTV.com
By Courtney Martinez, WSBTV.com

George H.W. Bush, who served as the 41st president of the United States, died at the age of 94 Friday.

The nation is not only remembering a former president, but a family is mourning the loss of a father, brother and grandfather.

Bush is survived by two siblings, five children, 17 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Jenna Bush Hager, one of his granddaughters and the daughter of former President George W. Bush, shared a heartbreaking tribute to her "Gampy" on her Instagram Saturday morning.

Hager posted her tribute along with a cartoon drawn by Marshall Ramsey, the editorial cartoonist for The Clarion Ledger. The cartoon depicts her grandfather reuniting with his wife Barbara Bush and their daughter Robin.

View this post on Instagram

This brought me such comfort this morning. I had the opportunity to talk with my grandpa about the afterlife. This is what he said: ​He answered without any hesitation. “Yes, I think about it. I used to be afraid. I used to be scared of dying. I used to worry about death. But now in some ways I look forward to it.” And I started crying. I managed to choke out, “Well, why? What do you look forward to?” And he said, “Well, when I die, I’m going to be reunited with these people that I’ve lost.” And I asked who he hoped to see. He replied, I hope I see Robin, and I hope I see my mom. I haven’t yet figured it out if it will be Robin as the three year old that she was, this kind of chubby, vivacious child or if she’ll come as a middle-aged woman, an older woman. And then he said, “I hope she’s the three-year-old.” Robin was the daughter this giant of a man lost years before to leukemia. The little girl he held tightly: who spoke the phrase I have heard Gampy repeat for my entire life, forever knitting Robin’s voice into the tightly woven fabric of our family: “I love you more than tongue can tell.”

A post shared by Jenna Bush Hager (@jennabhager) on

"Waking up missing this giant of a man who gave me everything. He taught me and my family about service, family, decency, the power of gentle words and a beautiful heart. I will miss him desperately but so happy he and my Grandmother are back together," Hager wrote in a separate post.

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George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush were married for 73 years until Barbara's death in April. The couple were married in New York but spent their honeymoon together in Georgia.

Their daughter Robin died of cancer when she was three years old.

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