COLLEGE STATION, Texas �� Barbara Pierce Bush was remembered Saturday for the strength of character and wit that made her one of the most popular first ladies in U.S. history, as she was laid to rest by the political clan she built, including the husband and son she helped reach the presidency.
"She was our teacher and role model on how to live a life with purpose and meaning," son and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said in a eulogy, recalling his mother's final days: "She was beautiful until the day she died."
Saturday's service also included eulogies by longtime friend Susan Baker, wife of former Secretary of State James Baker, and historian Jon Meacham, who wrote a 2015 biography of George H.W. Bush.
Meacham noted that Bush is the second woman in U.S. history to have been the wife of one president and the mother of another, George W. Bush. The only other woman to have played that role was Abigail Adams, whose husband, John, was the second president, and her son John Quincy Adams was the sixth.
Baker recalled how Bush offered support and guidance during her early days in Washington, and lived by example.
"The most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat people," Bush told her, not just family and friends, "But strangers you meet along the way."
The former president nodded as Baker spoke. Daughter Dorothy "Doro" Bush Koch sat at his side, rubbing his back.
The service also included readings by Koch and Bush's grandchildren or "the grands" as she called them, including Jenna Bush Hager and her twin, Bush's namesake. Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, and Bush's other grandsons were pallbearers.
Nancy Sosa, mother-in-law of Bush's granddaughter Ellie Sosa, arrived for the service from Newport Beach Saturday. She came wearing a pearl choker in honor of Bush, who became her friend during summers in Maine.
"When she spoke, people listened," Sosa recalled, yet, "She didn't want to worry much about her looks."
"She was feisty, with a great sense of humor... one of a kind," said friend Susan Biddle, also in pearls, before the pair boarded a shuttle bus from the parking lot to the church.
About 1,500 guests attended the invitation-only service at the family's longtime church, St. Martin's Episcopal. Many of the women wore fake pearls and Bush's favorite color, blue.
President Donald Trump did not attend the funeral.
"My thoughts and prayers are with the entire Bush family. In memory of First Lady Barbara Bush, there is a remembrance display located at her portrait in the Center Hall of the @WhiteHouse," Trump posted on Twitter.
Melania Trump also released a statement following the service.
"Today the world paid tribute to a woman of indisputable character and grace," she said. "It was my honor to travel to Houston to give my respects to Barbara Bush and the remarkable life she led as a mother, wife, and fearless First Lady. My sincerest thoughts and prayers continue to be with George H.W., and the entire Bush family."
In attendance were former President Bill Clinton, his wife, Hillary, and daughter Chelsea; former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle; members of Congress and a host of relatives of former presidents, including Johnson, Kennedy and Nixon.
While those with security details proceeded directly to St. Martin's Church, Bush might have appreciated that the rest _ including former Cabinet members, ambassadors, CEOs, sports stars and socialites _ were directed to board a fleet of Houston city buses that served as shuttles to the service.
Among those taking the bus were Bush's nephew and former Today Show reporter Billy Bush; former Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly; former U.S. Solicitor General Kenneth Starr; longtime Bush strategist Karl Rove; Tennis star Chris Evert; golfer Phil Mickelson and actor Chuck Norris.
In another Barbara Bush-style no nonsense twist, the A-list celebrities and beltway power brokers found themselves seated on the bus beside rank and file members of Bush's staff, including longtime housekeeper Alicia Huizar.
Huizar, 75, worked for the Bushes for 20 years in Houston, and her mother worked for them for 50, she said. Huizar traveled with the couple, and although she speaks mostly Spanish, she said Bush understood.
"She was a beautiful person," Huizar said.
So many members of former administrations returned for the service, it felt like "old home week" said J. Steven Rhodes, former ambassador to Zimbabwe, who was a domestic policy adviser to George H.W. Bush.
Rhodes, who traveled from Los Angeles for the service, recalled how the Bushes once prank called him from the White House at 5:30 a.m.
"Where are you? We're waiting on you," Barbara Bush said, then passed the phone to her husband, who let him in on the joke before asking for advice on a speech.
"They treated staff like family," Rhodes said.
Karl Rove said he met with George W. Bush in recent days, and that the former president has received "great comfort."
"It says a lot that this is a celebration," Rove said of the service. "This is a family of great faith."
Bush, 92, who suffered from heart and respiratory problems, died Tuesday after deciding not to seek further treatment following a series of hospitalizations. Her funeral featured tight security including secret service checkpoints because of the star studded guest list. But the day before, the public was welcomed at the church to pay their respects.
As 6,200 mourners filed by Bush's silver casket _ including women wearing Bush's favorite color, blue, and her trademark fake pearls _ they got a surprise. President George H.W. Bush, 93, arrived in a wheelchair to greet them after seeing footage of the crowds.
While Bush made Houston her adopted hometown, she was a Northeastern blueblood by birth, and her funeral service was presided over by ministers from both Houston and Kennebunkport, Maine, where the couple hosted family during the summer.
As first lady from 1989 to 1993, Bush's popularity often rivaled her husband's. That stemmed at least in part from her self-deprecating humor, embodied by her three-strand choker of fake pearls. While her prematurely white hair earned her a family nickname, "the Silver Fox," it also inspired many to view her as "America's grandmother."
