Jenna Bush Hager Reacts to Grandfather George H.W. Bush’s Death

Jenna Bush Hager is mourning the loss off her grandfather, former president George H.W. Bush, with a series of photos and memories.

Hager, 37, took to Instagram after her grandfather passed to share a recent photo of them together, as well as a throwback from her childhood.

“Waking up missing this giant of a man who gave me everything,” Hager wrote. “He taught me and my family about service, family, decency, the power of gentle words and a beautiful heart. I will miss him desperately but so happy he and my Grandmother are back together.”

Hager, who is daughter of former president George W. Bush, then followed up the memories with a drawing from editorial cartoonist Marshall Ramsey. It depicts George H.W. reuniting with his late wife Barbara Bush in heaven alongside their late daughter Robin.

She revealed how much she admired the drawing and revealed she discussed the topic of death with her grandfather before his passing. In that conversation, he discussed his hope that he would be reunited with Robin in the afterlife.

“This brought me such comfort this morning,” Hager wrote. “I had the opportunity to talk with my grandpa about the afterlife. This is what he said: ​He answered without any hesitation. ‘Yes, I think about it. I used to be afraid. I used to be scared of dying. I used to worry about death. But now in some ways I look forward to it.’ And I started crying. I managed to choke out, ‘Well, why? What do you look forward to?’ And he said, ”Well, when I die, I’m going to be reunited with these people that I’ve lost.’”

She continued, “And I asked who he hoped to see. He replied, ‘I hope I see Robin, and I hope I see my mom. I haven’t yet figured it out if it will be Robin as the three year old that she was, this kind of chubby, vivacious child or if she’ll come as a middle-aged woman, an older woman.’ And then he said, ‘I hope she’s the three-year-old.’ Robin was the daughter this giant of a man lost years before to leukemia. The little girl he held tightly: who spoke the phrase I have heard Gampy repeat for my entire life, forever knitting Robin’s voice into the tightly woven fabric of our family: ‘I love you more than tongue can tell.’

Funeral arrangements for the former POTUS have not been announced as of press time.

Photo Credit: Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images