President's Mother Dies Of Stroke At Age 91 -- Bush Spends Time At Her Bedside

WASHINGTON - Dorothy Walker Bush, the matriarch who saw her son elected president of the United States and lived to see him defeated, died yesterday afternoon at her home in Greenwich, Conn., the White House said. She was 91 years old.

She had been in poor health for several years, and suffered a stroke Wednesday.

President Bush, accompanied by his daughter, Dorothy Koch, spent 70 minutes at her bedside yesterday morning. She died about four hours after he returned to the White House at midday.

He was informed of his mother's death during a diplomatic ceremony on the State Floor of the White House. White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said a private funeral service would be held Monday in Greenwich, and that the president would attend.

President-elect Clinton's office said he called the president last evening to express his condolences.

The woman whom the president called his family's "moral leader," who "tamed our arrogance," was the daughter of privilege. Her father was shipped off to school in England with his valet. She was married to a successful businessman and senator.

Even as her son rose to national and then international prominence, Mrs. Bush stayed out of the limelight, remaining less well known than other presidents' mothers, such as Rose Kennedy and Lillian Carter.

Dorothy Walker was born in St. Louis, Mo., July 1, 1901. Married to Prescott Bush Sr. in 1921, she lived in Kingsport, Tenn.; Milton, Mass. - where the president was born in 1924 - and eventually the wealthy community of Greenwich, Conn., where she raised her five children.