George H.W. Bush

Few things in life are more personal or emotional than the death of a parent. For the family of George H.W. Bush this past week, that experience was fodder for wall-to-wall TV news coverage and the front page of every newspaper.

As the patriarch of the Bush family was laid to rest, the ceremonies served as a glaring example of how the families of presidents — and presidential candidates — sign away their privacy at the start of a campaign.

Former president George H.W. Bush was remembered by his grandson as gracious, decent and humble, as he received his final public memorial ceremony at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston on Thursday. The funeral came after several days of remembrance in the nation's capital.

Bush died last week at the age of 94. He will be buried in a private ceremony on Thursday afternoon.

Largely missing from the flood of remembrances of the late President George H.W. Bush is the role he played as Ronald Reagan's vice president in what came to be known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

It's an episode that clouded an otherwise remarkable career in public service.

Perhaps Bush's most well-known involvement in the affair was his absolution of some of those in the know about it.

This week, the Bush family has accompanied the coffin of former President George H.W. Bush over thousands of miles by car and by plane.

But the final leg of the journey in Texas will be made by train – and no ordinary train.

Union Pacific Locomotive 4141 will take Bush's body to College Station, where he will be laid to rest at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Center at Texas A&M University.

As we've been hearing this week, people have very different memories of the late President George H. W. Bush. Some see him representing a civility that has disappeared from American politics. For others, he's the symbol of indifference to the suffering of many Americans during the AIDS epidemic. But ask someone from the former Soviet Union about Bush, and they're likely to think of... his legs.

Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET

Former President George H.W. Bush was remembered as "a great and noble man" by his eldest son, former President George W. Bush, at a solemn but joyous state funeral at Washington National Cathedral.

The cathedral bells tolled as the casket containing the 41st president was carried by a military honor guard down the center aisle on Wednesday morning.

Seated together on one side of the aisle were President Trump and former Democratic Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, along with their wives.

Former President George H.W. Bush is being honored with a state funeral Wednesday at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

The service is set to feature multiple members of the Bush family, including a eulogy from former President George W. Bush, the late president's eldest child, and readings from three of the 41st president's granddaughters.

Here's a look at the sprawling Bush family.

The children

As the remains of former President George H.W. Bush lie in state at the U.S. Capitol, LGBTQ activists and some journalists have been calling attention to his mixed legacy on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which was raging during his administration.

Bush died at the age of 94, on the eve of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1.

Sully, the service dog of former President George H.W. Bush, spent Sunday night lying before Bush's flag-draped casket in Houston.

Jim McGrath, spokesman for the Bush family, tweeted out a photo on Sunday night, captioning it "mission complete."

Jeb Bush retweeted the image, adding "Sully has the watch."