Barbara Bush - biography, photo wallpapers): Barbara Pierce Bush (born June 8, 1925) is the wife of the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, and was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She is the mother of current U.S. President George W. Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and the sister of Scott Pierce.
Barbara Pierce was the third child of the former
Pauline Robinson (
1896-
1949) and her husband,
Marvin Pierce (
1893-
1969), who later became president of McCall Corporation, the publisher of the popular women's magazines
Redbook and
McCall's. She was born at Booth Memorial Hospital in
New York City, and raised in the
suburban town of
Rye,
New York, and went to
Rye Country Day School, followed by boarding school at
Ashley Hall in
Charleston,
South Carolina. Her ancestor
Thomas Pierce, an early
New England colonist, was also an ancestor of
Franklin Pierce, the 14th
President of the United States. Her mother — whom
W magazine once described as "beautiful, fabulous, critical, and meddling" and "a former beauty from
Ohio
with extravagant tastes" — was killed in a car accident. The accident
was caused when her husband, who was driving, lost control when he
reached over to stop a cup of hot coffee from sliding across the seat
onto his wife. The car crashed into a stone wall, killing her instantly.