2 months ago
KENNEBUNKPORT (NEWS CENTER) -- Former President George H.W. Bush was thrown a surprise ceremony on the cliffs overlooking his Walkers Point compound. The event was a chance for community members to say thank you to a man who has summered at his family's oceanside estate since he was one year old and unveil a special tribute to him.
"Today Mr. President, we are about to uncover a symbol of our love for you, the symbol of your anchor to windward that you so often say when you talk about this special place in your heart, Kennebunkport," said Stephen Spenlinhauer a friend of the former President. "I have watched you from near and afar and you never cease to amaze me in how you reach out to people."
Community members came together to create a fitting tribute to a man who has been such an important part of the area. They built a small landscaped garden with a plaque resting beside a 6,000 pound anchor from a Navy Destroyer that sits on the cliffs overlooking Walkers Point.
Co-chair of the event Nancy Sosa read the plaque which reads as follows, "for our friend and 41st President, George H.W. Bush, An Anchor to Windward, as he was for our nation and world during four years of tumultuous and historic change, so, too has Kennebunkport served, in the words of Saint Paul, "as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast" to him."
The former President, who thought he was going to the golf course, was surprised by the gathering and touched by the sentiments shared. "All this tribute and I'm not even dead yet, what is going on here? It is amazing," joked President Bush. "A surprise can be kept, I can tell you. I didn't have the vaguest idea. I was kind of whining to Jean Becker, cause as some of you know, I don't venture out much anymore, and she said, 'Ken wants you to go up to the golf course' and I was like, 'what the hell for, I was up there two days ago.'"
The President went on to thank everyone for their hardwork on the project and for the kind words, both spoken and written in a commemorative booklet which was handed out at the event.
"Thank you all, this is so touching, I just want to thank everybody," said the former President.
