MIDLAND, Texas — Taking to her social media accounts yesterday, Jenna Bush-Hager posted reflections on her "Grammee" and her remembrances of appreciating nature in West Texas.
“Waking up thinking of my precious namesake, Jenna Welch who passed away Friday. How lucky I was to be named after a woman who taught me how to slow down and appreciate every bird, and every plant in West Texas. She read us poetry and taught us about every constellation in the sky. Her kindness and graciousness were as expansive as the West Texas horizon. So happy she’s reunited with her great love, our Pa after almost 25-years apart. Thinking of my mama too who lost her little mama right before Mother’s Day.”
Jenna Welch, the mother of Laura Bush and beloved long time Midlander, passed away Friday at the age of 99.
Excerpts from Mrs. Welch's obituary speak to her love for the landscape, nature and bird life of West Texas:
“Mrs. Welch was a knowledgeable, self-taught naturalist. She learned the name of every Midland wildflower and was an accomplished amateur birder. She took extension courses at Midland College and developed a passion for astronomy, which she shared with her daughter and granddaughters. Her daughter remembers how she and her mother would lie on a blanket on the grass and look up at the vast sky. More than two decades later, her twin granddaughters would skywatch with their Grammee.
Jenna Welch engaged in a variety of civic activities, including as a Girl Scout troop leader, a member of the Boone Bible Class and a Sunday school teacher at the First United Methodist Church of Midland, and a member of the Midland Naturalist Society, "the Mid-Nats." In her later years, she lovingly cared for her husband as he battled cancer and later dementia until his death in 1995."
The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts be made to the Midland County Public Library Foundation, Post Office Box 1634, Midland, Texas, 79702; OR to the Jenna Welch Nature Study Center, Post Office Box 2906, Midland, Texas, 79702.
