OBITUARY
The body of former US president George Bush will “lie in state” in Washington, DC, and then return to Texas for burial.
George Bush was the 41st president of the United States. (He is not to be confused with his son, George W. Bush, who was also a US president, from 2001 to 2009.)
George Bush was president from 1989 to 1993. He was a Republican, and is remembered for many things including working to improve Canada-US relations, introducing better clean-air regulations, helping to construct NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), fighting a “war on drugs,” and, as former US President Barack Obama tweeted, “it was his steady, diplomatic hand that made possible an achievement once thought anything but–ending the Cold War without firing a shot.”
He served for one term, losing the presidential election in 1992 to Democrat Bill Clinton.
Bush graduated from Yale University and went on to become, among other things, a millionaire oil tycoon, a United Nations ambassador, a director of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and a US vice-president.
George Bush was married to Barbara Bush (June 1925-April 2018) and they had six children, the most well-known of whom are George W. Bush and Jeb Bush (who was Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007).
The Story Behind The Story: Point-of-View
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
An obituary is a news article written about someone who has passed away. Obituaries tell about the person’s life, their accomplishments and what they are known for.
Sometimes after someone has died, people may say mostly nice things about them. Some people say you shouldn’t “speak ill of the dead.” However, that doesn’t mean that everything they did was seen by everyone as positive. In the case of George Bush — and any world leader — there are people who agreed with the things he did, and people who disagreed with the things he did.
Following a leader’s passing–as reported today–what can you do to gain fuller understanding of their legacy?
Reading Prompt: Variety of Texts
An obituary is a unique form of writing that is part death notice and part biography. Pick a super hero that you are familiar with and now try to imagine their death. Write their obituary. Tell their life story, their achievements and accomplishments, and a few nice things that were said about them.
Junior
Read a variety of texts from diverse cultures, including literary texts (OME, Reading: 1.1).
Intermediate
Read a wide variety of increasingly complex or difficult texts from diverse cultures, including literary texts (OME, Reading: 1.1).
Language Feature: Big Numbers
Today’s article mentions that former President Bush was a millionaire. If he had a billion, he’d be a billionaire.
See if you can guess the correct values: Quadrillionaire, Septillionaire, Undecillionaire, Centillionaire
