“Just do the best you can.” We honor the life and contributions of former First Lady Barbara Bush. | OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network

On January 6, 1945, in Rye, New York, sixteen-year-old Barbara Pierce met George H.W. Bush at a Christmas dance—an encounter that quietly changed American history. Few know she left Smith College after her freshman year to marry him, a choice that led her to become one of only two women ever to be both a president’s wife and a president’s mother, alongside Abigail Adams. Barbara’s power wasn’t just her pearls or the white hair she embraced at twenty-eight—it was her fearless authenticity and sha