HOUSTON — At the Episcopal church that has been her spiritual home for more than 50 years, the former first lady Barbara Pierce Bush was celebrated at her funeral as one of the most beloved political matriarchs in American history.

Mrs. Bush, the wife of the 41st president and the mother of the 43rd, died on Tuesday in the bedroom of her home in Houston. She was 92, and took her last breaths holding the hand of her husband of 73 years, former President George Bush.

As her coffin lay beneath an ivory-colored pall in the center aisle of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, some of the most powerful and famous political figures in the United States — including four of the five living former presidents — gathered to honor a woman who carried her own power and fame lightly.

“We learned to strive to be genuine and authentic by the best role model in the world,” Mrs. Bush’s son, Jeb Bush, the former two-term governor of Florida, told mourners in his eulogy. The family called her Bar, Mother, Ganny, the Silver Fox and, notably, the Enforcer, as she used her wit, humor and tough love to raise six children, 17 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.