NORTHAMPTON — Barbara Bush, the former first lady who died Tuesday at age 92, has a local connection to the Pioneer Valley — she was a member of Smith College’s Class of 1947, though she never graduated.
Bush left Smith in 1944 when she married George H.W. Bush, but did receive an honorary degree from the college in 1989, when she gave a speech at the college’s 114th opening convention:
“I don’t deserve this honor — I’m going to accept it —but I know I don’t deserve it, but I will treasure it all my life,” Bush said in the speech. “I want to be absolutely honest with you, this is not my first honorary degree. But it is the one that I value most of any of all.”
In the Spring 2018 Smith alumnae magazine, Bush shared information about her health as part of her class note.
“I have had great medical care and more operations than you would believe,” she wrote. “I’m not sure God will recognize me; I have so many new body parts!”
“I am still old and still in love with the man I married 72 years ago,” the note continued.