Patricia McGehee Bush (affectionately known by family and friends as Pat or "Patsy") passed away at her home on October 16, 2016. Pat was born to Daniel and Dorothy McGehee on September 12, 1925 in Meadville, Mississippi. Daniel Rayford McGehee, an accomplished politician, served Mississippi as a state representative in the State House and State Senate and served his country as a member of Congress from 1935 through 1947 during the Second World War. Congressman McGehee was also a lawyer, banker, and a landowner. Dorothy Hunt McGehee was a homemaker raising Pat and her three older sisters on the family's picturesque plantation called Rio Vista.

Growing up in the small town of Meadville, Pat learned solid small-town values and developed her southern charm that we all knew and loved. As a child, she enjoyed spending time with her beloved family riding horses, playing tennis and baseball, and lending a helping hand on the family's homestead.
Pat was in the fourth grade when the family took a second residence in Washington DC when her father was elected to Congress. What a life change that was – living in a small close-knit town to the big city where the family lived at the Wardman Park Hotel. For many years, Mrs. Bush traveled back-and-forth between Mississippi and DC while Congress was in and out of session. Pat always said she "lived the best of both worlds."

She attended Holton-Arms School, Rollins College and got her degree from The George Washington University. Pat loved life and was always adventurous; she managed to find time to learn to fly airplanes, and eventually completed her solo cross-country flight while in college.
On September 10, 1947, Pat married her soul mate, William Reeves Bush, Jr. Bill was a Naval Aviator serving in WWII, and later a prominent executive of a Fortune 500 company. It was love at first sight and the pair enjoyed fifty-two wonderful years of marriage together until Bill passed away in May of 2000.

Mrs. Bush had two daughters, Danielle Bush Ayre and Dorothea Bush Frye (married to Laurence W. Frye). She had four grandchildren, Alexandra Danielle Frye, William Hunt Frye (married to Kimberly T. Frye), Taylor Noelle Ayre and Daniel Edward Bush Ayre.

An incredible wife and mother, there was always a home cooked dinner on the table and a lesson taught. She was fiercely loyal to her family and manners and propriety were paramount to her. She was loyal to her friends and acquaintances as well, and there were many.

Pat was an avid and competitive tennis player, and a formidable opponent. She played in numerous local, national tournaments, winning the Congressional Country Club Tennis Championship several years in a row, Le Club International Celebrity Tennis Tournament, and many more. Outside of her family, tennis and politics were her true passion.

Pat loved traveling the world; she and her husband, Bill, lived in Colombia when they were fist married while he ran charter cargo flights to the US after the war. Over the course of her life, she has visited six continents with her husband and family. Pat split her time between Washington and her second home in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

For the past 32 years, Pat served on the Board of Directors for The Bank of Franklin in Mississippi (the bank that her father founded over 100 years ago). She served on the board of the Washington Area Tennis Foundation, and was a faithful member of National Women's Symphony and The Women and Arts Museum as well as the Society of Arts and Letters. She was also a proud member of The American Clan Gregor Society.

Patricia Bush will be remembered for her smiling face, graceful demeanor and impeccable manors. Elegant, yet disarmingly charming, she was an awe-inspiring woman filled with beauty and love.

She will return to her beloved Mississippi where she and her husband will be buried together.