Bush Visits Boyhood Texas Home

MIDLAND, Tex., Oct. 4 -- Nearly eight years ago, 15,000 well-wishers crowded downtown Midland for a rousing send-off to favorite son George W. Bush, who was on his way to Washington to become the nation's 43rd president.

Bush returned to this windswept West Texas oil city Saturday on a much quieter note, hosting a closed-door fundraiser and then, in an unannounced detour, visiting the humble three-bedroom rambler that was, for a while, home to two future presidents.

Struggling in Washington with two wars, a collapsing economy and record disapproval ratings, Bush seemed a bit wistful after a quick tour of his refurbished boyhood home. Standing on a small patch of front lawn with first lady Laura Bush, the president told reporters that it was a "heartwarming experience" that reminded him of his vows to never forget his Texas roots.

"I've told my friends here, I said, 'You know, I'm not going to change as a person because of politics or Washington' -- that's what I told them when I left," Bush said.

"I want them to know that, you know, even though I had to deal with a lot of tough issues, that I'm still the same person that they knew before," he added. "I'm wiser, more experienced, but my heart and my values didn't change."

Bush hasn't been back to Midland since that rally in January 2001. He and his wife were raised here, and Laura Bush has returned on occasion to visit her mother, Jenna Welch, and in 2006, to commemorate the transformation of the rambler into a historic site called the George W. Bush Childhood Home.

The siding of the house at 1412 West Ohio Ave. is painted gray, with a brick-colored front door and matching roof shingles. A red tricycle sits in the yard for effect, and a rough white picket fence goes around the modest back yard.

Ann Sparkes has lived next door for 27 years and is the site's caretaker; Saturday was her 82nd birthday -- and her first chance to meet Bush. "He was just glad to be here," Sparkes said of the president's mood during the tour, which was off-limits to reporters.

After leaving New England to make a start in the West Texas oil business, George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, bought the house on Ohio Avenue in 1951, when George W. was 5. Sons Jeb and Neil arrived during the family's time in the house, while leukemia took the life of 4-year-old daughter Robin in 1953. The family moved to a larger house in 1955.

"This is one of the three homes I lived in, and I kind of remember it," Bush said, adding that he recalled some wood on a wall in a bedroom.

In addition to his childhood in Midland, Bush returned after attending Yale and Harvard universities to try his hand, with limited success, in the family oil business and to mount a bid for Congress that eventually failed. He and the first lady were married in Midland in 1977. At the 2001 rally, Bush said that in Midland "the spirit of possibility was as big as the West Texas sky."

Now at the end of his presidency, Bush's return was greeted by a smattering of small crowds lining the route the motorcade took to a fundraiser at the spacious home of GOP Rep. K. Michael Conaway. Then came the visit to the house on Ohio Avenue, passing through modest neighborhoods of brick ranch houses. One house sported a prominent sign, and a life-size likeness, of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Bush, who flew to Midland during a weekend stay at his ranch in Crawford 320 miles to the east, said it was "an amazing experience to come back to a place where you were raised."

"I love Midland, and Texas," he said. "I learned a lot of values that I hold dear here. . . . It was just a very heartwarming experience."