(WHDH)– Born in Milton, Mass., former President George Herbert Walker Bush was among the presidents with the deepest ties to New England.

Born in Milton in 1924 to a U.S. Senator from Connecticut and his wife, Bush attended Phillips Acadamy in Andover and later, Yale University.

The late president married his beloved wife Barbara O’Neill in 1945 while on leave from the Navy.

The pair would go on to have six children. Two of which would follow in their father’s political footsteps.

Their home in Kennebunkport, Maine became the summer White House during his tenure as president.

Though his permanent residence was in Texas, the then former congressman and director of the CIA reconnected with the area in 1980 during the primaries.

Though he lost that primary and the Republican nomination to Ronald Reagan, he won the second spot on the ticket as Reagan’s running mate. Thus beginning Bush’s first stint in the White House.

In his Massachusetts campaign, he met several Bay State politicians who would go on to serve with him.

One such politician, Andrew Card, a state representative from Holbrook, later became Bush’s White House chief of staff.

Card saw in former President Bush what many voters did, “He’s a regular kind of guy, he likes to go to the video store to rent a video. He likes to go fishing. He likes to talk to different people.”

1988 proved to be a year of redemption for Bush.

He came back to beat Bob Dole in the primary and ultimately won the White House over Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis, with the support of the Boston police.

“You know your endorsement means a great deal to me,” Bush said to the officers.

It meant so much that he paid for a group of officers and their spouses to come to Washington D.C. and march in his inaugural parade.

“It’s a tremendous honor for the police people in the city of Boston,” one man said. ” It’s going to be a long time before anyone forgets this trip.”

During his inaugural address, Bush worked to smooth tensions in the nation’s capital impressing many Massachusetts politicians of the day.

Then-Sen. John Kerry spoke of the president’s speech saying, “I thought it was wonderful. I really was impressed. I was moved.”

Then-State Rep.Tip O’Neil said, “I thought Bush’s speech was excellent. I thought it rang with sincerity from the heart.

On one of his last visits to the Bay State, Bush talked about his son, former President George W. Bush, who stepped into his shoes in the Oval Office in 2001.

“People say to me, ‘Does it hurt more when they criticize you or when they criticize your son?’ That isn’t even a close call,” Bush joked. “Hurts much more when they get on your family.”

During his life, former President George H. W. Bush proved over and over he was more than “just a politician.” He was a diplomat, a statesman, a citizen of the world and a father.

He proved that despite his permanent place of residence, he will always be remembered as a New Englander, a Yankee, a moderate and as a man who always appeared to love his family as much, or more as he loved his country.

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