COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Haley McAllister and Kristen Beggs beamed with pride as their children sat at a replica of George H.W. Bush's desk inside the Oval Office mock-up at the presidential library on the campus of Texas A&M University.

McAllister's son, 10-year-old Westin, pretended to speak earnestly into a white telephone while cousin Kimber Beggs, 8, listened intently.

"When we woke up this morning, just being in College Station, it was a must we come here and just honor the legacy he had," said Kirsten Beggs, visiting from the former president's one-time hometown of Midland.

"We wanted to teach our kids ... what a great man he was."

The two sisters-in-law and their families were among hundreds of visitors to the George Bush Library and Museum on a sun-dappled Texas morning the day after the nation's 41st president died at 94.

McAllister, visiting from Austin, said she's always been inspired by the faith and kindness of Bush and his family.

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"Just know that being kind to others is the most important thing," she said. "If you can just do that in your life, things will be better."

The library is a cavernous 17,000-square-foot, labyrinth that chronicles the former president's life from his boyhood in New England through his productive post-presidency. Images and exhibits include family photos and heirlooms. There is a replica of the fighter-plane he was piloting when he was shot down over the Pacific during World War II, in addition to mementos from his political career, whichincluded being a congressman, the national chairman of the Republican Party and director of the CIA.

"I never realized how well equipped he was for the presidency," said Janet Goebert, who with her husband John have been library volunteers since before it opened in November 1997.

John Goebert said he came to know Bush as a down-to-earth Texan who delighted meeting visitors, even while wearing workout clothes or coming back from fishing on the small pond behind the library.

One morning, Gobert said, Bush asked the couple if he could bring them a cup of coffee.

"I said, 'good grief, the president of the United States is offering me coffee,' " he recalled.

Visitors seemed enthralled by the images and exhibits that included a section of the Berlin Wall, which was knocked down during the first year of the Bush presidency, and of a tank from the Gulf War.

Louis Anders, in town from Louisiana for a wedding, said Bush's response to the Iraqi aggression cemented his legacy.

"I was proud of the way he handled Desert Storm," Anders said. "He went in, got it done, and got out. That's the way it's supposed to be."

The exhibit also included the parachutes from Bush's post-presidential skydiving exploits, which he carried out on his 75th, 80th, 85th and 90th birthdays.

The library, outfitted with holiday decorations and Christmas trees at the door and in the lobby, had planned a holiday theme for what was supposed to have been an ordinary December weekend.

The library, outfitted with holiday decorations and Christmas trees, had planned a holiday theme for what was supposed to have been an ordinary December weekend.

Duane Wagner, a 91-year-old Army veteran who entered the service as World War II was winding down, planned to visit the library to take part in planned holiday pageantry.

Instead, he came to honor a fellow veteran.

"I think he has a tremendous legacy," Wagner said. "Probably as great as any other when you consider what he'd done as a teenager, a young pilot."

Follow John C. Moritz on Twitter: @JohnnieMo