Family members of Barbara Bush were touched by a cartoon that shows the former first lady greeting her late daughter in heaven.
Marshall Ramsey of the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, drew the cartoon of Bush, who died Tuesday at 92, reuniting with daughter Pauline Robinson Bush -- known as Robin -- who died of leukemia in October 1953 when she was 3.
“I came at it from a different angle,” Ramsey wrote Thursday in the Clarion Ledger. “Obituary cartoons are tough. Who do you draw one for? What can you say that won't be said 1,000 times by other cartoonists? A scene at the Pearly Gates is always a popular theme.”
Ramsey said he remembered reading the story about the Bush family’s third child, Robin, and he began to sketch. He considered several ideas, but then decided to go with his first choice.
“Once a cartoon leaves the drawing board, it takes on a life of its own,” Ramsey wrote.
Did it ever.
Jeb Bush Jr. shared the cartoon, tweeting “Break out the #Kleenex.” Barbara Bush’s granddaughter, Jenna Bush Hager, shared the cartoon on Instagram, writing that “I don’t know the artist but I love him.”
Ramsey admits the reaction has been overwhelming.
“My phone is still dinging like a slot machine,” he wrote.
The reaction has extended beyond the Bush family. Ramsey wrote that he also heard from parents who also had lost young children.
“Cartoons take on a life of their own once they leave the drawing board,” Marshall wrote. “This one has taken on a life more beautiful than I ever could have imagined.”
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