Upon learning the news that George H. W. Bush had died editorial cartoonist Marshall Ramsey knew what to draw.
This cartoon was going to be a bookend to the cartoon I created when Barbara Bush died. It was an idea I had thought of when he was so ill in April. But he was tough and bounced back. I tucked away the idea for a later date. Which was last night.
I quickly sketched President Bush, walking from his World War 2 TBM Avenger, as he was reunited with his family. His beloved wife, Barbara, was telling him, “We waited for you.”
This cartoon tribute has become as popular as his Barbara Bush cartoon did earlier this year.
Not just with the public but, more importantly, with the Bush family.
As The Washington Post’s Comic Riffs reports (via the Colorado Springs Gazette):
“This brought me such comfort this morning,” [Jenna Bush Hager, the Bushes’ granddaughter] wrote Saturday on Facebook, with a shared image of the cartoon. “I had the opportunity to talk with my grandpa about the afterlife.
“This is what he said: ?He answered without any hesitation. ‘Yes, I think about it. I used to be afraid. I used to be scared of dying. I used to worry about death. But now in some ways I look forward to it.’ And I started crying. I managed to choke out, ‘Well, why? What do you look forward to?’ And he said, ‘Well, when I die, I’m going to be reunited with these people that I’ve lost.’ ”
Marshall Ramsey’s column from the Clarion Ledger about the H. W. cartoon
and Marshall’s column about the earlier Barbara Bush cartoon.
