Former First Lady Barbara Bush died at the age of 92 on Tuesday. She was one of two women to be both the wife and mother of two separate presidents. Abigail Adams, who was the wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams, was the other.
- First Lady Barbara Bush dies at the age of 92
- Barbara Bush remembered as a fierce defender of family
What some may not know is that Barbara and her husband, George H. W. Bush, lived in metro Detroit for a short time during World War II, while George's squadron formed and trained.
Here is the excerpt from her memoir, "Barbara Bush: A Memoir," published in 1994.
For the next eight months we moved around the country while George's new squadron formed and trained. Sometimes I could go with him and sometimes I couldn't. We went to Grosse Ile Air Base in Michigan and lived in rooms in Wyandotte and Dearborn. The first room we rented was dark, and the landlady took great pleasure in my mistakes. I made many. I heard her say one day to a friend on the phone, "You should have seen what she did today. She washed all her silk underwear and it shrank." I did, and it did, but how mean of her not to tell me how to wash it. We moved over to Dearborn and stayed with the dearest family, Joe and Grace Gorgone and their children. We have stayed in touch all these years, until Grace died in March 1993. She taught me some of the things my mother thought I should be able to pick up by reading -- things like how to cook, clean and wash clothes.
