Services for former President George H.W. Bush will begin Monday, three days after he died at age 94.
Air Force One will travel to Ellington Field in Houston on Monday morning to take Bush’s casket from a departure ceremony scheduled for 11:30 a.m. EST. It will be delivered to Joint Base Andrews near Washington D.C., for an arrival ceremony at 3:30 p.m.
Another arrival ceremony will occur on Capitol Hill, involving the House and Senate, at 4:45 p.m. Bush’s body will lie in state at the Capitol, allowing the public to pay respects from 7:30 p.m. Monday to 8:45 a.m. Wednesday.
President Donald Trump declared Wednesday a national day of mourning. All federal buildings will be closed.
“I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President George H.W. Bush. I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance,” Trump said.
On Wednesday, family and friends of the 41st president will gather at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., for a memorial service. Bush’s remains will then be flown from Andrews back to Ellington Field and transported to St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, where he will lie in repose from Wednesday night to early Thursday.
A second memorial service will be held at the church at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney will deliver a eulogy at Bush’s funeral, saying he was asked to speak a long time ago, Global News Canada reported.
“President Bush had become one of those statesmen about whom history’s judgment rises every year. It was my privilege to have worked with him on an array of world-changing policy achievements,” Mulroney said.
Bush will ultimately be laid to rest at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, following an arrival ceremony at 4:45 p.m. and the interment at 5:15 p.m.
Former first lady Barbara Bush — who died at the age of 92 in April, and the couple’s daughter, Robin Bush, who died of leukemia — are also buried at the library.
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