Bush Arrives at Presidential Library for Burial

Former President George H.W. Bush's casket has arrived for burial in his family's plot on the grounds of his presidential library in Texas.

Bush will be buried during a private service Thursday, ending nearly a week of services honoring the life of the 41st president. He will be laid to rest alongside his wife, Barbara Bush, and their daughter Robin, who died at age 3 of leukemia in 1953.

Bush died last week at age 94. Nearly 1,200 people attended a funeral service for him earlier Thursday in Houston before his body was transported by a special funeral train to College Station, where the presidential library is located on the grounds of Texas A&M University.

Large crowds lined the roughly 70-mile (115-kilometer) train route to pay tribute to Bush.

The blue-and-gray locomotive painted to resemble Air Force One arrived Thursday in College Station after a roughly 70-mile (115-kilometer) trip from suburban Houston. 

The 12-car train also carried Bush's close friends and family, including former President George W. Bush.

It was the eighth funeral train in U.S. history and the first since Dwight D. Eisenhower's death nearly a half-century ago.

About 1,200 people attended a funeral service for the 41st president earlier Thursday at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, which is where the family worships.

Bush's grandsons served as honorary pallbearers at his flag-draped casket was carried out of the church.

The funeral follows three days of events in Washington honoring the 41st president.

On Wednesday, former President George W. Bush said he told his father just before he died that he had been a "wonderful dad" and that he loved him. Delivering a eulogy at the elder Bush's funeral, George W. Bush said the last words his father "would ever say on earth were, 'I love you, too.'"

George W. Bush extolled his father for his service as president and as a role model as a loving husband, father and grandfather.

Bush choked up at the end of his eulogy. He patted his father's flag-draped coffin twice as he went back to his seat. Former first lady Laura Bush wiped her eyes with a tissue.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter sat in a front-row pew. President Donald Trump shook hands with the Obamas when he entered.

The Republican president oversaw the post-Cold War transition and led a successful Gulf War, only to lose re-election in a generational shift to Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992. His funeral will bring together world envoys, the four remaining ex-presidents and President Donald Trump.

This prayer was read when Bush's casket arrived at the National Cathedral: 

"With faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the body of our brother George for burial. Let us pray with confidence to God, the giver of life, that He will raise him to perfection in the company of saints."

His remains arrived Monday afternoon at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington aboard an aircraft that often serves as Air Force One. Former President George W. Bush, the eldest of the four Bush sons, and his wife, Laura, along with brother Neil Bush and his family, were aboard the plane for the trip from Houston.

Earlier, President Donald Trump says he expressed his "best wishes" to the Bush family after the death of former President George H.W. Bush.

Trump says he spoke with former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Saturday. He praised the elder Bush, who died Friday, as "a high-quality man who truly loved his family."

He added that Bush's death "really puts a damper" on his participation at the international Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Remembering George H.W. Bush