'Just a great, dignified lady': Arizonans share memories of Barbara Bush

It was 1981, and Mike Farley hadn't been on the job long as the head advance man for then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara.

A Los Angeles native who moved to Tucson for college and fell into politics, the 37-year-old was living a whirlwind life.

It was his job to jet ahead of the first couple to handle logistics for their public appearances, speeches and receptions, and to make sure the venues were just so.

On Wednesday, a day after Barbara died at the age of 92, memories of those days came rushing back to Farley and other Arizonans who knew Barbara and the Bush family during their decades-long political career.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle, a Paradise Valley resident, remembered the former First Lady as one of the nation's "most beloved and gracious citizens."

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"I always enjoyed being with Barbara and hearing her opinions, which she was never reluctant to share," Quayle said in a written statement. "She was a wise and thoughtful woman, and Marilyn and I will miss her. Our hearts are full of sympathy and love for our dear friend President Bush in this sad hour.”

Tucson auto dealer and one-time Bush aide Jim Click and his wife, Vicki, flipped through old pictures with Barbara and George and handwritten letters bearing their names. One from Barbara thanked them for opening their home for a Tucson event.

"It was exciting to see the goodwill you generated," one letter read. "Many, many thanks, dear friends."

One of Click's fondest memories was riding in the back of a limo with Barbara and George during one of their trips to Tucson. George was a bit fatigued after a jam-packed day of fundraising and hobnobbing.

"Barbara kind of chastised him and said, 'Come on, George, wake up,'" Click remembered her saying.

"'Look at Jim," she said. "'You need to be as enthusiastic as he is!'"

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Farley, now 74, recalled Barbara as a kind and witty woman who adored her husband and didn’t put up with nonsense.

"She knew what she wanted to do and she knew how to get it done," Farley said during a phone interview from his home in Tucson. "She was very easy to work with and very sure about making sure things were right.

"She was just a great, dignified lady."

And, he said laughing, she didn’t need a staffer with a fancy title to fuss over her.

She could handle herself.

She made that clear one night, after a reception in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

That night, as twilight approached, she walked out onto a terrace, where a throng of camera crews had gathered to capture images of her and her husband, then vice president. Cameramen and reporters pushed forward, as they often do during photo opportunities.

"I stepped in front of her and started to push these people back," he recalled.

She didn’t say anything.

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But back on the plane heading home, he remembered she left her cabin shortly after take-off. She made her way to him.

"She said, 'Young man, I want you to know that I can take care of myself and I don’t want you to do that again,'" he recalled her telling him.

"In her mind, she was more than capable of taking care of herself and she didn’t need that kind of assistance."

She was kind to Farley.

Once, as he boarded a plane headed west to his hometown of Los Angeles, he asked her for a favor. He wanted to know if his parents could wait outside of the first couple's hotel suite and shake their hands as they made their way to an event.

"She said, 'No, you can’t do that,'" he remembered her saying. "'You bring them up 20 minutes before we leave — I want to visit with them.'"

He did.

When he returned to retrieve them for the event, he found his dad adjusting Vice President Bush’s tie.

His mom and Barbara were sitting beside each other on a couch, crocheting.

"They were that kind of people," Farley said. "And she did that for almost any staff member that asked a favor."

His mom was "thoroughly impressed," he said.

His dad told all of his friends that he'd "straightened out the vice president of the United States, and explained to him how to fix Social Security."

Follow the reporter on Twitter @yvonnewingett and on Facebook. Contact her at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com and 602-653-6248.

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