bush led our country and the bush family with grace and quick wit. when she died, we celebrated her beautiful life with a memorial service in houston. and then we drove to college station to the bush library. on our drive, thousands of people lined the streets and waved flags. those texas men took off their cowboy hats and put them over their hearts. when we reached the burial site, we were welcomed by 700 saluting texas a&m cadets. it was a lovely tribute to a remarkable woman. president george h.w. bush is fine. he misses bar. her.he is in good spirits. he will head back to houston in october. george and i believe that his parents have showed us the way to age with grace. bar used to walk her dogs on the beach twice every day. she would walk her dogs both times a day. then a couple of summers ago, she used to walk with a walker. last summer, she could not walk on the beach, so she wildly drove her golf cart across the beach with her little dogs running behind her for exercise. [laughter] she used to say enjoy life. don't cry over things that were or things that aren't. enjoy what you have now to the fullest. from george's parents we have learned that all we have is now. so take advantage of your life as it is. and walk on the beach every chance you get. now we will get to hear from five of her grandchildren. they will reflect on how their lives have been shaped from the lessons she taught them. i am happy to introduce ellie. now.is she coming? ellie is first. [applause] she works for a health care nonprofit and she recently wrote a book about george and barbara bush. you can buy a signed copy outside the auditorium after the program. pierce bush is neil's son. he lives in houston. he is the ceo of big brothers big sisters lone star. jeb bush, jr., serves as managing partner of jeb bush and associates. and he serves on a number of nonprofit boards. and he lives in florida. [applause] then we have our two daughters. barbara bush is the cofounder and board chairman of global health corp. and jenna bush-hager is a correspondent with nbc's "the today show." she is continuing the bush family tradition of warm relations with the media. [laughter] they are joined by our moderator, cokie roberts. please join me in welcoming them to the stage. [applause] cokie: so barbara and jena have to share a chair? so, at your grandmother's funeral, jeb bush in his beautiful eulogy said that she struck fear in the hearts of her grandchildren. that she was a benevolent dictator but not always so benevolent. i am sure you all have stories that we want to hear. i will start with you, barbara, because you and jenna have written some of the stories. and sisters first. tell us the story of being at the bowling alley at the white house when you were seven years old. we all called our grandmother ganny and the enforcer, because she was the enforcer in our household. when my grandfather first became president, all of us went to the inauguration. we were so excited. we were about to move into the white house. we had no idea what it would be like. but when you are seven, it is about to be magical. we had heard that there was a bowling alley. we went into it. this was the second day my grandparents had been in the white house. we were bowling and having a blast. there was a phone on the wall. there was a phone on the wall. so we picked up the phone. and we do not know what we were doing on the phone but we picked it up and we ordered two grilled cheese sandwiches. >> peanut butter and jelly. >> yes, it was peanut butter and jelly. we are both really jetlagged, by the way. >> we both just landed, so our details are off. so we hear footsteps coming to the door and we are getting excited. but instead of sandwiches, our grandmother walks in. and she is not happy. she tells us that this is a home. a borrowed home, and not a hotel, and we will never order anything again. cokie: did any of you ever order things? >> no. [laughter] >> i felt like we suffered and then it was a legend that spread through the family. [laughter] >> i felt like we suffered and then it was a legend that spread through the family. they knew not to order. and then we never knew what it was going to taste like. cokie: but it did not stop when you were children, right? tell us about a tennis game. >> we still got reprimanded. barbara and i spoke to our ganny right on the sunday before she passed away. we live four blocks from each other in new york city and she walked over and we did not know how long we had so we called her on speakerphone. we cried. we all cry. we will cry if you do your job right. we both burst into tears and i think she could tell that we were weeping. she said, "girls, don't worry." >> she said stop reading everything you are reading about me. they say they i am dying -- that i am dying. don't believe everything they say they i am dying -- that i am dying. don't believe everything they say. >> meanwhile, she was the one saying she was getting off comfort care. we had a tennis tournament going on. my tennis game was suffering and i could have blamed it on my baby. but i have never been a big tennis pro. i was actually playing with a pro because i had set up the tournament and i wanted to win. when i was not hitting great strokes or whatever you call them i would make some sort of gestures. i lifted my skirt up. i had shorts underneath. but i did some things i did the worm. >> that was impressive. it was actually really good. >> but my grandmother did not like it. she did not say anything. i got home and my children started preschool. that shows you the age of me. i get a letter in the mail and it is addressed to jenna and george. my dad likes the things like the worm. [laughter] he was like on the sideline saying, "that is my girl." he likes the behavior. she was mad. i cried. my husband came home from work and asked me what was wrong and i said, "my grandmother is really mad." and he asked, "why?" i said, "because of that tennis tournament a month ago." he barely remembered it. i called my dad in tears. he had gotten the same letter. it was photocopied. he said he had already thrown it away. [laughter] but the p.s. said do not show it to anybody. but i decided to publish it in my book. cokie: that's that journalistic instinct. >> she did not like it because our grandfather was raised to be a good sportsman. even though he might have though it was funny, she was embarrassed because she would have thought that his mother was lovely and very athletic, so she would not have needed to do the worm. cokie: so what about the rest of you? times when your grandmother just came down on you? >> why me? i might be the one to take this. i always felt like ganny would pick up people that she liked. she was the great defender of her family to other people and the public, but man, she would let you have it. so one time, i had just graduated from college. i was in a spot in life -- i went to university of texas. maybe some ut people here, maybe not? can i get one? i did not really know what i was going to do with my life. but my grandmother, as all of us can attest, hated idleness. so having graduated and having two months of not knowing was not a good thing around her. she had double knee surgery that summer. this was the summer of 2008. the third thing to add to what i am buidling up is i had also wrecked my grandfather's boat the day before. that is a pretty serious offense in my family. in fairness, it was not really my fault. but she said nobody likes excuses. that next day i tried to do a good deed. i took my cousin robert to a movie and to dairy queen. i get a call from my dad and he says, "where are you? ganny notices that her smart car is missing." there was a rule in my family. you could take her smart car but you had to ask her permission. but she had just had double knee surgery. [laughter] i show up at the big house -- cokie: so your father had gotten a call from his mother asking where was her car? >> my dad is the happiest guy. his voice, there was almost joy in knowing what i was about to receive. [laughter] so i show up. there is this nice couple from houston who i don't know. i am trying to stake out my own and trying to figure out what i want to do with my life. in front of these guests that i have never met, she scolds me to the point where i was in tears. i had to leave the room. i was 22. she had a point. i will say this. cokie: you had wrecked the boat the day before. >> here is the truth about my grandparents. i think my cousins would agree. every single one of my cousins is doing something in some small way that is greater than their own career, their own financial success. there is nothing wrong with making money, by any means. but my grandmother and our grandmother never let us take the fact that our grandpa was president for granted. she wanted us to use that to better the lives of others. there is not one cousin that i can think of -- cokie: don't mention them if you can. [laughter] >> she is like a strong, sicilian grandmother that all of her kids and grandkids are better because of it. cokie: i was trying to learn more about you boys. i know more about the girls. which forced me to go to twitter. oh lord. [laughter] which i do not like to do because there are other people on twitter. you did say at some point that she said you cannot have a successful life unless you serve other people. >> she embodied that. but through some of the tough love lessons that we got. she was the embodiment of love. but her love came in a way of knowing that you could do something great with your life. as it pertains to us and my uncle and others, she was passionate about not living idle lives. not taking our positions for granted. doing something that matters. >> i could be a hell raiser at times. we are all very blessed because when they finished their service in the white house, it was right when my parents were getting into politics. in 1993. looking back on it, i was now very fortunate that i got to spend every summer up in kennebunkport. and did most of you? >> i would go all summer working up there. she would chew our butts from time to time. but she kept us all in line. the 21 grandkids. we all sat up straight and said yes ma'am and looked people in the eye and shook their hands firmly. cokie: ellie, you have had the great joy of writing this book about your grandparents. look at this beautiful picture. do we know who the baby is being christened in this picture? it is a great picture. writing this book must have been very special. >> it was. incredibly special. i remember when i was first thinking about writing it, i knew i needed to talk to a few people before it went forward. one was my mom. i talked to her first and she was excited. but she said you have to talk to ganny. we both knew our grandmother had to be on board for this to work. i will never forget. i was talking to her in her bedroom in maine. i walked in and pretty much dropped a bomb on her. i said i am thinking of writing a book. and she said, "what? you?" and i told her it was going to be about her and gampy and their love story. she said why would you want to write a book about that? that sounds so boring." but their love story, like we all know, is so unbelievable. and she ended up being totally on board. i was able to interview her several times, which was really special. especially during her last year with us. i remember about 10 days before she passed away, my mom was with her in the hospital. and we had plans to do some kind of interview with her. i texted my mom and told her not to worry about it. she wasn't doing well. my mom called me and told me that she was on the line. so i, and i have a co-author for the book. so i immediately got my co-author on and said my grandmother is on the line. so the last time i talked to her was about 10 days before she passed away. she was still as funny and sharp as ever. at one point i said, "ganny, was there anything in your life that you regretted?" she said, "i would have been thinner, smarter, prettier." but she said, "no, i am actually the happiest person in the world." just to be able to hear those words from her was really special. cokie: she also seems to have inspired you all to love books. jenna, you wrote that you would miss sharing books with her so much. >> she did. when we were younger and we would go visit maine, that was the moment that andy referenced. we lived in midland, texas, and our grandparents were the vice president and the vice president's wife in d.c. we did not know our other grandparents as well. the moment that they came to midland -- am i right, mom? our mom taught us to say "ganny." we love to read. our whole family does. i think she was the one who inspired that in all of us. i think it is because she was an adventurer. i cannot even imagine being a young mother and moving away from everybody that i knew. >> also to a place that barely existed. >> also moving away from everything i know. doing that as a young mom, and my grandfather traveled quite a lot, and to lose a daughter. i am in a similar stage of life as she was at that moment. i cannot imagine not having the support system. even though i do not live close to my parents either. they come to visit but they are not that helpful anyway. [laughter] >> that is so rude.that is rude. >> i mean they are helpful. but they do not change a diaper. >> they are rusty. >> it is remarkable to know what kind of a maverick and an adventurer she was. i think that goes with reading. there is no better adventure than to lose yourself in a book. she did annoy us when we were little and kept asking us if we finished our summer reading. every day. and we had not. cokie: neil, i noticed that you were on tv recently talking about books that have influenced you. i mean pierce. >> we look alike. except the beard. which she did not like. three days before she died she told me i had to shave my beard. but i did not have time to cut it. cokie: what books influenced you? her favorite books? >> we never talked about her favorite books. she would force me as a kid to read out loud to her, to make sure i was doing the summer reading. >> she would yell at us from downstairs. asking us if we had done our summer reading. cokie: the other thing that you all have talked about is her being the glue that held everybody together. it is kind of important now that the glue still sticks. so what are you guys doing? >> this is the question she is trying to get us on. i warned you. i think going to maine was very sad because she was not just the glue that held us together, which i wrote and a lot of people have said. it sounds cliche. she also had a huge presence. and she was up early. and to wake up and not see her in the little screened-in porch was sad. >> up in kennebunkport we have a room with two couches and a tv. the last couple of years, she was watching less news. but it was a meeting place every morning where she would be in there, reading. she would always be writing letters. checking in with people from all over the world. people would come in and out to have a cup of coffee. she would ask us what we are going to do. we better not be sitting around not doing anything. she would not hold back her opinions about what was going on. >> it is quieter without her. this summer, we all went to maine. of course, our grandfather is still there right now. i said it was so quiet without ganny. and he looked at me and said, "are you trying to tell me that she talked too much?" >> i think because she included him. one of the odd things of having a public figure as someone you love was, i don't know if you will agree with me on this. i was here for an event. i was alone. and it is very interesting in its was something we have to get used to. that we had somebody who we loved and knew so well spoken about, some of the people who knew her but some who are just political figures. i thought this person does not even know. they said like the bush insiders knew that she would die first. and it made me really mad and i had nobody to get mad about. my husband was already here. and then, as the weeks go by, people come up and say that they loved her. so it is hard at first but then it is a beautiful thing. because i have had friends who have lost people they have loved. that was an interesting thing. i don't know why i just brought that up. >> people don't necessarily talk to me all the time about my grandparents because i am one of the people who does not have the last name bush. i can get by without people not knowing. so people do not know. there are people you have not talked to in years saying how my grandmother touched them in different ways. >> it kind of cushions you with love to have people do that. >> and we learned so much more about her that we did not know when we were younger. i work in global health now and i received emails from people who were kids at the home there. they told me your grandmother taught us and taught the world that we were fighting a disease, we were not fighting people. cokie: i was going to ask you that. was that part of your inspiration for starting the global health corp? >> yes and no. i got to learn so much more about my grandmother's experience in working with aids well afterwards. we were so little then. we were probably five years old. the year we were born was the year that aids was discovered. the reason i work in global health is because it never occurred to me to not work on something i thought i could solve or at least make a tiny little dent. i chose a bit of a beast. but that was how i was going to be in the world. that was very much shaped by her. >> barbara wrote something very beautiful that will be in our paperback , it will be else later in october. she wrote something that moved me so much. maine this summer ganna madele, us feel we needed to be better. don't highlight your problem areas. why would you highlight your problem areas. she was right. that was intimidating as teenagers and as little children. but i think she made us better. i think this summer in maine, and we have little kids and jobs and we are tired. and we are now thinking who is going to hold us up to that standard? there was not anyone. cokie: i hear that you broke rules and kennebunkport this summer. you went the wrong way on some of the roads? >> i did not do that. knowe said our database to how to be the matriarch. [laughter] grow your hair out to be a matriarch. cokie: you solve them going the wrong way on the roads? >> oh yes. >> what are the rules? i did not know we had any? >> so it was you that broke it? as long as i could remember, we had taco sunday every sunday. at 1:00 p.m., everybody would get together in the big house. grandmother said every sunday we are doing it. we are inviting friends after church. ifs year someone asked gampy we will be doing our taco sunday. "i the nuts really like tacos." now.rger and dog day [laughter] he loved her just as much. to rather say i would have a hamburger or a hot dog, he suffered years. and he loved her so much that he would have a dog in bed with him that bit him. >> yes. that dog. may he rest in peace. [laughter] alive.he is still down in texas. >> he bit everyone on the bottom. [laughter] say is thatny would you provoked them. even to her firstborn. cokie: when you were doing the book, did she actually talk about the love story? >> she did. to get her to talk about it at first because she did not like talking about herself. but i managed to get it out of her. their love story that we found through all of and through my experience watching them, is that humor has always been a big part of it. i am saying this because i want to tell a story about, and this might be inappropriate, but i'm going to try it and see what happens. [laughter] so you guys know the story. a few years ago my mom got a gift for my birthday. it was a fart machine. [laughter] >> it was a what? what was it? a fart machine. [laughter] it is a little machine, you hide it someone -- under someone's chair, and you press a button. and she said gampy would love this. he loved it and he thought it was so funny. he was pressing it over and over. my cousins were sitting at the dinner table and we were all laughing hysterically because we are all immature. [laughter] dinner goes on. we forget about it. we have dessert. because we have dessert for every meal. ganny end of dinner, announces that she is going to bed. she is walking down the table to say goodbye to everyone and justice she gets to gampy, he presses it. and they goes off. and the timing was perfect. we had forgotten all about it. -- her eyes.s rise and she hit him and said, "grow up, george." [laughter] she did not think it was funny. but we all thought it was hilarious. >> she did love to laugh. but when everyone was laughing at something that immature, she was like, no. you also tell wonderful stories about finding and going to the library and going through her scrapbook. >> we all know that our grandmother loved taking pictures. we saw that scrapbook she would keep of pictures of all of us. notore recent years, i did realize how much she kept from her entire life until i was starting research for my book. i was able to go down to college station to my grandfather's library where they have the archives. i went down tod the library there. millions and millions of different scrapbooks and tapes and things. we only had a day and a half. we started looking at her scrapbooks. she had kept scrapbooks from every part of their life together. we started with the yell scrapbook. when they were at yell, they were young and married. we get to an envelope and it is prichard a -- protruding. out of the envelope comes a wishbone. writingmother in her had said this was from their first thanksgiving turkey together. it was at that point that we thought we would be good, because we got her first thanksgiving wishbone together. it was amazing to see that she was keeping all of those things for her family to have. it was before they had any public service roles. it was very special to have access to all of those things in the book. carrying it on? >> i want to ask how to be a matriarch. how many kids do you have to be -- have to be a matriarch? how my dad should behave as the next matriarch? [laughter] can anybody answer that? >> i think it's his reading to our kids. kids is something that she told me to do. i am sure we will keep doing it. >> but also she was so proud of her great-grandchildren. and shead a little baby would say that she was so smart. she can read. my other daughter was like bopping around. said, "there is this app that georgia has." prouder of what was in them that she loved. not just as a legacy. the thing is, they will remember. at least my oldest well. she still says prayers and i think she does it because i cry and she thinks it's a sweet and she likes attention. i'm not sure where she got that from. [laughter] dear god, ganny is up there now. look out for ganny." that is her legacy. how amazing that our girls will get to remember what a badass woman she was. [applause] >> you should not put us on the same chair. we are like having our own panel down here. sweetest texts i got was after she passed from an employee. it said to live her legacy. something about that grabs my heartstrings and pulled them out the most because when you think about her legacy, it is that picture with that baby. it is sticking up for underdogs. i think about that in all of the ways that she has done that for me. i think about that i just got married in march right before she passed away. cokie: we saw the pictures of your uncle dancing. [laughter] >> that was leaked. he is a good dancer. [laughter] so i met this amazing young woman who my grandmother loved, to the point where she was saying do not mess this up. marry them if to we messed it up with each other. my wife comes from a somewhat difficult past. she shared that with my grandmother. my grandmother loved that about her. how she had overcome that as a child. she loves the underdog. thatthink a legacy of hers i have thought a lot about and she died is fierceness and fearlessness. she walked into death. and all of us are scared of dying. and she knew she was going to die and she chose how to die. and she did it gracefully. she was fearless if she loves you. she was fearless if she was talking about anything she cared for. that is not what you think of if you think of an older, white haired woman wearing pearls. up iny she died, i woke the middle of the night. and i have had a complicated relationship with my own name. i have had many experiences where i have gone to go speak at conferences and everyone is so excited. and i think certainly they will notice that i am here. they think my grandmother is going to arrive. but we have one classic family tale when my cousin was going to email me.- >> no, not for some reason. >> you are implying something. waxing, hair electrolysis. and she says the email. but it auto fills with my email address. [laughter] i have had weekly experiences cherry the same name as my grandmother. the night after she died i woke up and even though i have had a complicated relationship with it, i think now that is so lucky because it is a reminder to be fearless like her every single day. it is not something to be worried if someone knows my name. i should just be fearless and live the way she did. do something i get to have forever. and i'm so grateful. cokie: and to rejoice in it. [applause] the whole country got to know -- there are some kleenex here. you did not bring us all to tears but i think we are dehydrated from flying today. >> we are dehydrated. >> i was tearing up. >> just getting, we were. her.ughter -- loved >> we miss her very much. cokie: the whole country loved her. i know she will be watching you. thank you all very much. [applause] to tom george washington george w. bush, every sunday at 8 p.m. and midnight eastern, we feature "the presidency." you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. the c-span bus is traveling across the country on our 50 capitals tour. during our stop in boston, we asked folks which party should control congress and why. >> i would like the house to remain republican because i like the way things are going right now. i like the way the economy is going. if they are going to switch to democrat, it would create a lot of gridlock and not a lot would be done. the way things are going now is one of the best runs in recent history. i would like it to stay that way. >> i would like the house to flip in november. i want to see a democratic majority in the house. i feel that it should be changed and it would be for the better. remain inthe house to republican hands because i am tired of gridlock and things not getting done. if it slips i would be afraid it would be another session of no change. >> the issue that is most andrtant is to be balanced the house of representatives and the u.s. senate. i will think it's will offset a bit and forced the current administration to try to govern more from the center, which i think is important. center,govern from the it is important to do that because it teaches us to have empathy for the other side. it teaches us to recognize other people and the issues that are important to them. ♪ >> voices from the states. part of c-span's 50 capital store -- tour. >> this week on the onmunicators, kim zetter election security. these have only been focused on the internet facing systems like the website that stores results. they are not looking at the modem transmissions to see if those are secure. they are not looking at the voting machines. they are not looking at the tabulation machines. those are the core, critical systems of an election. >> watch the communicators monday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. new york times best-selling author jodi picoult was our "in-depth: fiction edition." she has also written five issues of the wonder woman comic book series for dc comics. live on sunday, november 4, from noon to 3 p.m. eastern. and be sure to watch next month when author brad meltzer will be our guest. university history professor janet golden talks about the impact and fence had on 20th century developments in medicine, social welfare, and consumer culture. the kansas city public library and the university of kansas medical center co-hosted this one hour event. >>

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