Beth Bush, 91; Community Activist, Widow of Prescott Bush II

Elizabeth Kauffman Bush died in her apartment in Hingham, MA on February 20, 2014. She was 91.

Mrs. Bush, who was known as Beth, was born in Annapolis, MD to Vice Admiral and Mrs. James Laurence Kauffman on June 19, 1922.

As a "navy junior," she attended 14 different schools around the world. After a year at the University of California at Berkeley, she and her mother joined her father in Washington, D.C. With the outbreak of World War II, Admiral Kauffman moved the family to his headquarters in Miami, where she worked to help the wives of naval officers find housing.

On Dec. 30, 1944, she married Prescott Bush, and moved with him to Rio de Janeiro, where he worked for Pan American Airways. Two children were born to them in Rio, Prescott III and Kelsey, and in 1948 the family moved to Greenwich, where their son, James Laurence was born.

Mrs. Bush was devoted to her family and community, including Christ Church, the Greenwich Committee for Carver Center in Port Chester, NY and Family ReEntry in Norwalk.

She campaigned enthusiastically for her husband and father-in-law in Connecticut and later for her brother-in-law George H.W. Bush and nephew, George W. Bush.

Mrs. Bush was a lifelong student of poetry, literature and the Bible. A disciplined and creative writer, she devoted her talent into the book America's First Frogman: the Draper Kauffman Story. Published in 2004, she detailed the life of her older brother, Admiral Draper L. Kauffman and his extraordinary exploits during World War II in France, England and the Pacific. 

Mrs. Bush is survived by her daughter, Kelsey Bush-Nadeau of Yarmouth, ME; her son and daughter-in-law, James and Sue Bush of Hingham, MA; grandchildren, Elizabeth Nadeau, Katherine Nadeau, Sarah Bush Richey and husband Drake Richey, Samuel Bush, Prescott Nadeau, USMC Capt. William Nadeau and his wife Lydia; great-grandchildren Draper Richey and Ellie Nadeau.

She was predeceased by her husband of 67 years, Prescott S. Bush Jr. in 2010 and their eldest, Prescott S. Bush III in 2009. 

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. March 20, at Christ Church Greenwich, 254 E. Putnam Ave. 

Donations can be made to Family ReEntry, Norwalk, CT in lieu of flowers.