Bush family in the early 1960s, Dorothy on far left
Dorothy Walker Bush was born on August 18, 1959, in Harris County, Texas. Her father, George H. W. Bush, was the 41st President of the United States, and her mother, Barbara Bush, was the First Lady. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Dorothy Walker Bush. Her brother, George W. Bush, was the 43rd president of the United States, in office from 2001 to 2009. Her other four siblings are Pauline Robinson "Robin" Bush, who died of leukemia in 1953; former Florida governor Jeb Bush; Neil Bush; and Marvin Bush.[2] Since her childhood she has spent summers and holidays at the Bush compound, a seacoast estate in Kennebunkport, Maine.
In 1975, during a visit to Beijing, she became the first person to be publicly baptized in the People's Republic of China since its communist government began discouraging foreign religious practices in 1949.[3]
Bush is an event organizer and fundraiser for charities and other nonprofit organizations. She co-chairs the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy[5] along with her brother Jeb. She also served as a pioneer fundraiser for her brother's presidential campaigns.[6]
She is the author of the book My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George H. W. Bush (2006).
She sponsored the commission of USS George H.W. Bush, a United States Navy aircraft carrier named after her father, who in World War II was a naval aviator serving on an aircraft carrier. On January 10, 2009, she gave the first orders to the ship's company at Norfolk, Virginia.[7]
Personal life
In 1982, Bush married William Heekin LeBlond (b. January 11, 1957). They had two children, Samuel Bush "Sam" LeBlond (b. 1984) and Nancy Ellis "Ellie" LeBlond (b. 1986). They divorced in 1990.[8]
In June 1992, she married Robert P. "Bobby" Koch (b. 1960), today a Washington, D.C. lobbyist on behalf of the wine industry. The wedding took place at Camp David. They have two children, Robert David (b. 1993) and Georgia Gigi Grace (b. 1996). Robert P. Koch was an aide to HouseDemocratic leader Richard Gephardt, and is president of the California-based Wine Institute.[9] He has a substantial equity interest in Central European Distribution Corp., a company that manufactures and distributes vodka in Poland.[10]
^Knott, Stephen (October 4, 2016). "George H. W. Bush: Life Before the Presidency". Charlottesville, Virginia: Miller Center, the University of Virginia. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
^Wead, Doug. All the Presidents' Children. Atria (January 6, 2004), p.291.
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