WHEREAS,  President George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States, worked throughout his life serving freedom and advancing the public good through service in the military, in Congress and in the White House; and

WHEREAS,  President Bush enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve in 1942 on his 18th birthday, as soon as possible after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, becoming one of the youngest naval aviators, and was assigned to Torpedo Squadron VT-51 in September 1943, with which he participated in operations against Marcus and Wake Islands and in the Marianas; and

WHEREAS,  President Bush was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1966 and was appointed Ambassador to the United Nations in 1971; and

WHEREAS,  President Bush also served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Chief of the Liaison Office in China and Director of Central Intelligence; and

WHEREAS,  President Bush was chosen as President Ronald Reagan's running mate in 1980 and served as Vice President for 2 terms, heading task forces on deregulation and the war on drugs; and

WHEREAS,  in 1988 President Bush ran a successful campaign to become the first incumbent Vice President in 152 years to be elected President; and

WHEREAS,  during his term in office President Bush consistently and vigorously demonstrated the values of courage, duty, honor and compassion that define our nation and his life, encouraging Americans to be a "thousand points of light" through service to others; and

WHEREAS,  President Bush while in office oversaw military operations in Panama and the Persian Gulf, guided the nation through the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; and

WHEREAS,  President Bush and his family were longtime summer residents at the family compound on Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine, and the Anchor to Windward monument was placed on Ocean Avenue by the town in appreciation of the Bush family's generosity and charitable local efforts; now, therefore, be it