HOUSTON — George H.W. Bush was largely known for his work in public office, from his time as a Texas congressman and CIA director to his years in the White House as president and Ronald Reagan's vice president. But the World War II hero and great-grandfather also was an avid skydiver, played in the first-ever College World Series and was the longest-married president in U.S. history.
Here's a closer look at those and other elements of his life:
NICKNAMES: George H.W. Bush was known to his family as "Poppy." His wife said her husband was named after his maternal grandfather, who was known as "Pops," so the younger Bush was called "Little Pops." The nickname evolved into Poppy, which Bush "hated as he got older, but it was hard to break such a long-standing habit," Barbara Bush wrote in her memoir. But his grandchildren knew him as "Gampy," a name he embraced.
MEETING HIS WIFE: Bush met his wife at a dance in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1941. He was a 17-year-old high school senior, while she was 16 and attending school in Charleston, South Carolina, and home for Christmas. The band was playing Glenn Miller tunes, but when he asked her to dance, the music changed to a waltz. He didn't how to waltz, so they talked. They were married on Jan. 6, 1945, and were the longest-married presidential couple. She died on April 17, 2018
THE SEA: Bush's lifelong love of the sea and boats began in Maine, with his grandfather teaching him how to handle and dock a boat. At age 9, he and his 11-year-old brother were first allowed to take out their grandfather's lobster boat by themselves. Bush wrote in a 1987 book that he loved "the physical sensation of steering a powerful machine, throttle open." In 2010, to enjoy at his home in Maine, he bought a 38-foot fishing boat, Fidelity V, equipped with three 300-horsepower engines and capable of reaching 75 mph.
THE AIR: During World War II, Bush was one of the Navy's youngest pilots when he was shot down during a 1944 bombing mission. He parachuted into the Pacific Ocean and was rescued by an American submarine. He fulfilled a wartime promise to himself to someday skydive just for fun in 1997, when at age 73 and over his family's objections, he bailed out over a military base in Arizona, "to show that old guys can still do stuff," he said. He later marked his 75th, 80th, 85th and 90th birthdays with parachute jumps.
BASEBALL: As a first baseman and captain of his baseball team at Yale University, Bush played in the first-ever College World Series in 1947. His team lost to the University of California. Yale again reached the College World Series finals in 1948 and this time lost to Southern California. Sparky Anderson, who would win the World Series as manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers, was a batboy on the Southern Cal team.
OIL: Bush learned the oil industry in West Texas, starting in 1948 as an equipment clerk for an oilfield services company. He drove from New England to Texas in a 1947 Studebaker and ordered his first chicken fried steak — a Texas staple — at a restaurant in Abilene, wondering if it was chicken or steak but trying to fit in. The deep-fried steak smothered in gravy became a Bush favorite. A restored 1947 Studebaker identical to the one he owned is on display at his presidential museum at Texas A&M University.
