5:45 p.m.
A military band played and guns and cannons were fired symbolically as the body of George H.W. Bush was taken from a military aircraft to a waiting hearse in Houston.
As former First Lady Laura Bush and her husband, former President George W. Bush, left the plane and were walking on the tarmac Wednesday evening, Laura Bush waved at the crowd of 300 invited guests who attended the return ceremony.
Many in the crowd waved back at her.
A short time later, the hearse left for St. Martin's Episcopal Church, where the former president will lie in response overnight ahead of funeral services Thursday morning.
5:05 p.m.
A crowd of about 300 invited guests, including Astros manager A.J. Hinch, has greeted the arrival of a plane carrying former President George H.W. Bush's remains to Texas.
The military aircraft, nicknamed Special Air Mission 41 in honor of the 41st president, landed in Houston on Wednesday evening after a flight from Washington. Bush will lie in repose overnight at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston.
Among those in attendance were past and present members of Houston's various professional sports teams, including Hinch, former Texans receiver Andre Johnson and former Rockets player Calvin Murphy.
Bush was a big sports fan and regularly attended Astros, Rockets and Texans games. He and his wife, Barbara, could often be seen sitting behind home plate at Astros games.
5 p.m.
The plane carrying former President George H.W. Bush's remains has landed at Houston's Ellington Field.
Bush's body returned to Texas on Wednesday evening on a plane from Washington. The same military aircraft, nicknamed Special Air Mission 41 in honor of the 41st president, had taken his body to Washington on Monday to lie in state at the Capitol. A funeral service was held Wednesday morning at Washington National Cathedral.
Bush will lie in repose overnight at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston.
Then his casket will be loaded onto a train for a journey to College Station, where he will be laid to rest near his presidential library at Texas A&M University. He will be buried next to his wife, Barbara, and daughter Robin, who died of leukemia at age 3.
3:10 p.m.
Mourners wanting to pay their respects to former President George H.W. Bush began lining up outside a Houston church hours before his visitation is due to start.
The first people in line arrived Wednesday morning, almost 10 hours before St. Martin's Episcopal Church was scheduled to open to visitors.
Pennie Werth-Bobian was at the front of the line. The 56-year-old from Tomball, Texas, says that she used to visit with Bush while a friend of hers cut his hair and that they became friends. She says the second time they met, he told her to call him George.
Bush's casket is being flown back to Houston after his state funeral in Washington. Another funeral service will be held Thursday morning at St. Martin's, and he is due to be buried Thursday afternoon.
1:30 p.m.
Former President George H.W. Bush has left Washington for the last time. Bush's flag-draped casket was carried in a motorcade to Joint Base Andrews outside the capital city following his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral.
An aircraft that often serves as Air Force One and designated "Special Air Mission 41" is flying the casket to Houston. Former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush waved from the top of the stairway before boarding the plane, followed by other family members.
In Houston, Bush's body will be transported by motorcade to St. Martin's Episcopal Church. A public viewing of Bush's casket will be held at the church until early Thursday, followed by a private funeral. Burial will take place at the presidential library in College Station, Texas.
12:25 p.m.
The hearse carrying former President George H.W. Bush's casket has left Washington National Cathedral following his state funeral.
Former President George W. Bush says he told his father just before he died last week in Houston at age 94 that he had been a "wonderful dad" and that he loved him. Delivering a eulogy at the elder Bush's funeral Wednesday, George W. Bush said the last words his father "would ever say on earth were, 'I love you, too.'"
George W. Bush extolled his father for his service as president and as a role model as a loving husband, father and grandfather.
Bush choked up at the end of his eulogy. He patted his father's flag-draped coffin twice as he went back to his seat.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter sat in a front-row pew. President Donald Trump shook hands with the Obamas when he entered.
Bush's burial will be in Texas.
11:45 a.m.
Former President George W. Bush says he told his father just before he died that he had been a "wonderful dad" and that he loved him. Delivering a eulogy at the elder Bush's funeral on Wednesday, George W. Bush said his father's "last words on earth were 'I love you, too.'"
George W. Bush extolled his father not only for his service as president but also as a role model as a loving husband, father and grandfather.
Bush choked up at the end of his eulogy before regaining his composure. He patted his father's flag-draped coffin twice as he went back to his seat at the Washington National Cathedral. Former first lady Laura Bush wiped her eyes with a tissue as her husband sat next to her.
11:40 a.m.
Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, who left the U.S. after the killing of a Saudi journalist in Turkey, has returned to Washington for events around the state funeral of former President George H.W. Bush.
The Saudi embassy says that Prince Khalid bin Salman is in Washington and that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir is leading the kingdom's delegation at Wednesday's service.
Khalid bin Salman is the younger brother of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA has assessed with high confidence ordered the killing of Washington Post journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi (jah-MAHL' khahr-SHOHK'-jee). The ambassador left the United States in early October after Khashoggi went missing on a visit to a Saudi consulate in Turkey. There was speculation at the time that he would not return.
Saudi prosecutors have said a 15-man team sent to Istanbul killed Khashoggi with tranquilizers and dismembered his body.
11:40 a.m.
Former Sen. Alan Simpson has hailed his old friend George H.W. Bush as man of humility, a commodity the Wyoming Republican says is rare in the capital.
At the Washington National Cathedral memorial service for the late president on Wednesday, Simpson said, "Those who travel the high road of humility in Washington, D.C., are not bothered by heavy traffic."
Simpson recalled that once while he was under fire by the press, Bush told him to "wave to your pals over there in the media" as they passed photographers.
Simpson says Bush accepted a 1990 bipartisan budget deal that included a tax increase, despite his campaign pledge to not raise taxes. He says Bush said, "OK, go for it, but it will be a real punch in the gut." Simpson says "his own party turned on him" for that, contributing to his 1992 re-election defeat.
Bush died last week in Houston at age 94.
11:25 a.m.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has praised former U.S. President George H.W. Bush as a strong world leader who helped oversee the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union and was "responsible for the North American Free Trade Agreement" with Canada and Mexico.
With President Donald Trump, a sharp NAFTA critic, seated in the front row at Bush's funeral, Mulroney said Wednesday the deal "created the largest and richest free trade area in the history of the world" and was "recently modernized and improved by new administrations." Trump had called the trade deal unfair to the U.S. and moved to replace it.
Mulroney said Bush also deserves credit for the Americans with Disabilities Act and revising the Clean Air Act. He said, "There's a word for this. It's called leadership."
Bush died last week in Houston at age 94.
11:15 a.m.
Former President George W. Bush appeared to hand former first lady Michelle Obama something at his father's funeral, recreating a moment from Sen. John McCain's funeral earlier this year.
At McCain's funeral, Bush and Obama were seatmates and he appeared to hand her something during a eulogy. The bipartisan moment went viral, and Obama later told NBC's "Today" show Bush slipped her a mint.
On Wednesday, Bush dug into his pocket right before he shook the hands of the former presidents and their wives gathered for the funeral of his father, former President George H.W. Bush. He appeared to switch something into his right hand before he shook Mrs. Obama's hand and then hand something to her. She smiled at him after the exchange.
11:05 a.m.
Humor is creeping its way into the somber ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral to remember the life of former President George H.W. Bush.
Presidential historian Jon Meacham was the first speaker on Wednesday and said that on the primary campaign trail in New Hampshire once, Bush grabbed the hand of a department store mannequin while asking for votes. Meacham says when Bush realized his mistake he said, "Never know. Gotta ask."
Meacham recounted how comedian Dana Carvey once said that the key to doing a perfect impersonation of the 41st president was "Mr. Rogers trying to be John Wayne."
Looking ahead to the 1988 election, Bush once said: "It's no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or the other."
And Meacham said that late in his presidency, Bush's tongue ran amok when he said: "We are enjoying sluggish times, but we're not enjoying them very much."
11:05 a.m.
George H.W. Bush's biographer is hailing the late president as a noble man who made the world better and inadvertently made it chuckle.
Historian Jon Meacham has told mourners at a Washington memorial service that Bush's credo was, "Tell the truth, don't blame people, be strong, do your best, try hard, forgive, stay the course."
Meacham said Abraham Lincoln's "better angels of our nature" and Bush's thousand points of light are "companion verses in America's national hymn." Meacham says Bush "made our lives and the lives of nations freer, better, warmer and nobler."
President Donald Trump has mocked the "points of light" phrase at some of his campaign rallies this year. He contrasted it with his own campaign slogan, saying "Putting America first, we understand. Thousand points of light, I never quite got that one."
10:05 a.m.
It's an extraordinary scene inside the Washington National Cathedral, where former world leaders are mingling, waiting for a ceremony remembering former President George H.W. Bush to begin.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter are seated in a front-row pew.
President Donald Trump walked in and shook hands with Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, who greeted him by saying "Good morning." Trump did not shake hands with Bill and Hillary Clinton, who looked straight ahead.
Bill Clinton and Mrs. Obama smiled and chatted as music played. Carter is seated silently next to Hillary Clinton in the cavernous cathedral. Obama cracked up laughing at someone's quip. Vice President Mike Pence shook Carter's hand.
10 a.m.
The casket of former President George H.W. Bush has arrived at Washington National Cathedral in a lengthy, slow-moving motorcade that transported his family, friends and dignitaries.
Bush's flag-draped coffin left the Capitol on Wednesday morning and was moved to the packed cathedral. The former president had been lying in state at the Capitol Rotunda since Monday.
World figures, members of Congress, President Donald Trump and all four ex-presidents are attending the ceremony. Bush's son former President George W. Bush will give a eulogy, bidding a final Washington farewell to his father, who died Friday in Houston at age 94.
Bush's remains will be flown to Houston to lie in repose before a private burial Thursday at his family plot on the presidential library grounds at Texas A&M University in College Station.
9:55 a.m.
The hearse bearing the coffin of George H.W. Bush has driven slowly past the White House in a symbolic final nod at the building where he served as the nation's 41st president.
The funeral procession of limousines on Wednesday was carrying Bush's casket from the Capitol, where thousands of mourners had been paying respects to him since late Monday.
It was en route to the National Cathedral, where President Donald Trump, all four surviving former presidents and hundreds of other dignitaries and mourners were set for a memorial service.
Bush died last week at age 94. He is to be buried Thursday in Texas.
9:50 a.m.
The U.N. Security Council has paid tribute to the late U.S. President George H.W. Bush, standing silently in his memory.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara (ah-lah-SAHN' WAH'-tah-rah) was presiding over the U.N.'s most powerful body on Wednesday and asked the 15 members and diplomats in the crowded council chamber to observe a minute of silence to honor Bush at the start of a meeting on sustaining peace after conflict.
Speaking on behalf of the council, Ouattara said "President Bush left us following a long, illustrious career serving his country," including as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, where he presided over the Security Council in 1972.
Ouattara conveyed the council's "warm gratitude to the people and government of the United States of America" and condolences on Bush's death.
Bush died last week in Houston at age 94.
9:35 a.m.
Former President George H.W. Bush's casket has left the U.S. Capitol for a state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral.
Family, friends, congressional leaders and others gathered with military brass on the steps of the Capitol for the send-off Wednesday as cannons echoed a salute and a military band played "Hail to the Chief."
Bush's flag-draped coffin was carried to a waiting hearse for the procession to the cathedral. His son former President George W. Bush put his hand over heart at the plaza.
The 41st president had been lying in state since late Monday in the Capitol Rotunda, an honor reserved for few. Hundreds of visitors, including many former White House officials, arrived to pay tribute. Bush died last week in Houston at age 94.
8:40 a.m.
Friends and family are gathering at Washington National Cathedral under tight security for a funeral service honoring late former President George H.W. Bush.
Wednesday's national funeral service will cap three days of remembrance by dignitaries and ordinary citizens. It will bring together world envoys, the four remaining ex-presidents and President Donald Trump.
After Wednesday's service, Bush's remains will be returned to Houston to lie in repose at St. Martin's Episcopal Church before burial Thursday at his family plot.
The 41st president oversaw the post-Cold War transition and led a successful Gulf War, only to lose re-election in a generational shift to Bill Clinton in 1992. He died last week in Houston at age 94.
6:35 a.m.
The public viewing for late former President George H.W. Bush at the Capitol Rotunda has drawn to a close.
A funeral service at Washington National Cathedral on Wednesday will cap three days of remembrance by dignitaries and ordinary citizens as they honor Bush, who died in Houston last week at age 94.
The Republican president oversaw the post-Cold War transition and led a successful Gulf War, only to lose re-election in a generational shift to Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992. His funeral will bring together world envoys, the four remaining ex-presidents and President Donald Trump.
Bush's remains will be returned to Houston to lie in repose before burial Thursday at his family plot on the presidential library grounds at Texas A&M University in College Station
5:40 a.m.
Pope Francis is sending his condolences to the Bush family and says he's praying it finds strength and peace as it prepares to bid farewell to former President George H.W. Bush.
The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, sent a telegram of condolences on Wednesday to the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo. In it, Parolin says Francis was saddened to learn of Bush's death last week in Houston at age 94 and assured the family of his prayers.
The telegram says: "Commending President Bush's soul to the merciful love of Almighty God, His Holiness invokes upon all who mourn his passing the divine blessings of strength and peace."
Funeral services for Bush are planned for Wednesday at Washington National Cathedral.
EARLIER
WASHINGTON — The nation's capital bids its final farewell to the late former President George H.W. Bush on Wednesday in a service of prayer and praise that is drawing together world envoys, Americans of high office and a guy from Maine who used to fix things in Bush's house on the water.
A viewing for the 41st president at the hushed Capitol Rotunda closed Wednesday morning. A ceremony at Washington National Cathedral, the nexus of state funerals, will cap three days of remembrance by dignitaries and ordinary citizens as they honored the Republican president who oversaw the post-Cold War transition and led a successful Gulf War, only to lose re-election in a generational shift to Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992.
The four living ex-presidents are coming — among them, George W. Bush will eulogize his father — and President Donald Trump will attend but is not scheduled to speak. Also attending: one king (Jordan), one queen (Jordan), two princes (Britain, Bahrain), Germany's chancellor and Poland's president, among representatives of more than a dozen countries.
Also expected in the invitation-only crowd: Mike Lovejoy, a Kennebunkport electrician and fix-it man who has worked at Bush's Maine summer estate since 1990 and says he was shocked and heartened to be asked to come.
On Tuesday, soldiers, citizens in wheelchairs and long lines of others on foot wound through the Capitol Rotunda to view Bush's casket and honor a president whose legacy included World War military service and a landmark law affirming the rights of the disabled. Former Sen. Bob Dole, a compatriot in war, peace and political struggle, steadied himself out of his wheelchair and saluted his old friend and one-time rival.
After the national funeral service at the cathedral, Bush's remains will be returned to Houston to lie in repose at St. Martin's Episcopal Church before burial Thursday at his family plot on the presidential library grounds at Texas A&M University in College Station. His final resting place will be alongside Barbara Bush, his wife of 73 years who died in April, and Robin Bush, the daughter they lost to leukemia in 1953 at age 3.
Trump ordered the federal government closed Wednesday for a national day of mourning. Flags on public buildings are flying at half-staff for 30 days.
As at notable moments in his life, Bush brought together Republicans and Democrats in his death, and not only the VIPs.
Members of the public who never voted for the man waited in the same long lines as the rest, attesting that Bush possessed the dignity and grace that deserved to be remembered by their presence on a cold overcast day in the capital.
"I'm just here to pay my respects," said Jane Hernandez, a retired physician in the heavily Democratic city and suburbs. "I wasn't the biggest fan of his presidency, but all in all he was a good, sincere guy doing a really hard job as best he could."
Bush's service dog, Sully, was taken to the viewing, too — his main service these last months since Barbara Bush's death in April being to rest his head on her husband's lap. Service dogs are trained to do that.
The CIA also honored Bush, the only spy chief to become president, as three agency directors past and present joined the public in the viewing.
In the midst of the period of mourning, first lady Melania Trump gave Laura Bush, one of her predecessors, a tour of holiday decorations at the White House, a "sweet visit during this somber week," as Mrs. Bush's Instagram account put it. And the Trumps visited members of the Bush family at the Blair House presidential guesthouse, where they are staying. Former President George W. Bush and his wife greeted the Trumps outside before everyone went in for the private, 20-minute visit.
Although Trump will attend Bush's service, he is not among the eulogists. They are, in addition to Bush's eldest son, Alan Simpson, the former senator and acerbic wit from Wyoming; Brian Mulroney, the former Canadian prime minister who also gave a eulogy for Ronald Reagan; and presidential historian Jon Meacham.
People lined up before dawn to pay respects to the 41st president, a son and father of privilege now celebrated by everyday citizens for his common courtesies and depth of experience.
"He was so qualified, and I think he was just a decent man," said Sharon Terry, touring Washington with friends from an Indianapolis garden club. Said her friend Sue Miller, also in line for the viewing: "I actually think I underestimated him when he was in office. My opinion of him went up seeing how he conducted himself as a statesman afterward."
Fred Curry, one of the few African-Americans in line, is a registered Democrat from Hyattsville, Maryland, who voted for Bush in 1988, the election won by the one-term president. "Honestly I just liked him," he said. "He seemed like a sincere and decent man and you couldn't argue with his qualifications."
Inside the Capitol, Sully, the 2-year-old Labrador retriever assigned to Bush, sat by the casket in the company of people who came to commemorate Bush's signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the 1990 law that, among its many provisions, required businesses that prohibit pets to give access to service dogs.
"After Mrs. Bush's death, general companionship was a big part of Sully's job," John Miller, president and CEO of America's VetDogs, said in a phone interview. "One of the things that I think was important to the president was the rest command, where Sully would rest his head on the president's lap."
The law was just one point of intersection for Bush and Dole, now 95, who was one of its leading advocates in the Senate.
They were fellow World War II veterans, Republican Party leaders, fierce rivals for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination won by Bush ("Stop lying about my record," Dole snapped at Bush) and skilled negotiators. Dole, an Army veteran hit by German machine gunfire in Italy, has gone through life with a disabled right arm. Bush, a Navy pilot, survived a bail-out from his stricken aircraft over the Pacific and an earlier crash landing.
On Tuesday, Dole was helped out of his wheelchair by an aide, slowly steadied himself and saluted Bush with his left hand, his chin quivering.
Dignitaries had come forward on Monday, too, to honor the Texan whose service to his country extended three quarters of a century, from World War II through his final years as an advocate for volunteerism and relief for people displaced by natural disaster. Bush, 94, died Friday.
Trump's relationship with the Bush family has been tense. The current president mocked the elder Bush for his "thousand points of light" call to volunteerism, challenged his son's legacy as president and trounced "low-energy" Jeb Bush in the Republican presidential primaries en route to office. The late President Bush called Trump a "blowhard."
Those insults have been set aside, but the list of funeral service speakers marked the first time since Lyndon Johnson's death in 1973 that a sitting president was not tapped to eulogize a late president. (Clinton did so for Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush eulogized Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.)
Bush's death reduces membership in the ex-presidents' club to four: Jimmy Carter, Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Check back for updates and read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.