My Mom did not attend or graduate from college. She became a temporary assistant and held long term assignments for executives and companies in NYC and Brooklyn, she once worked at the Topps Company in Brooklyn and would bring us home baseball playing cards and gum. I would study the stats on the cards and chew on that gum incessantly.
For many years; off and on, she worked for G.H. Walker and Company; on 1 Wall Street. A speciality trading company founded by G. H. Walker; President Bush’s grandfather. My mom worked for Jonathan Bush, the President’s brother.
G. H. Walker was a minority investor in the NY Mets; and had season tickets and access to seats at Shea Stadium. Jonathan Bush would give my mom tickets so I could go to games with my dad; we could not afford to buy tickets at retail. He once gave my dad tickets to a NY Jets vs the Raiders game, and my dad had such a great time at the game, he eventually bought us season tickets– $ 99 per season, as a birthday gift to me. This was the most significant bonding experience with my dad imaginable. I would go to Sunday school, hustle home, change into warm clothing, and my dad and I would take two subways to get the Shea Stadium, sometime stopping to eat at Tads Steak House— $ 1.49 for a steak, potato, salad, and garlic bread!
The NY Jets Super Bowl win and parade was the lifetime memory for me regarding sports in my childhood and was the catalyst on activating experiences for me and my family with the Capitals’ Stanley Cup victory and parade. All those memories came flooding back. Who could imagine that cycle of life?
When I attended Georgetown University, I took many classes at the School of Foreign Service— George Bush was head of the CIA at that time. I asked my mom to ask Jonathan Bush if he would introduce me to the Director of the CIA around a paper I was writing; I would love to conduct an interview with Director Bush. Astoundingly, I was invited; along with a roommate, Bill MacDonald.. to go to his home in McLean, and do the interview. The President spent more than an hour with us; he enjoyed it so much, he invited us back two weeks later, we held another session, and then he asked to read our paper and gave us comments. We received A grades on our paper I must note!
Who would have thought then as I visited his home that I too would end up building a home in McLean, VA; and that my children would attend the Potomac School, basically across the street from the now named George Bush Central Intelligence Agency HQ.
President Bush, Rest in Peace. You were a great man, and some small gestures by you and your family to my family had very powerful consequences— I am forever grateful.
