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George H. W. Bush, future President of the United States, moved to Texas in 1948 with his wife, Barbara, future First Lady, and their young son, George W., to begin work as an equipment clerk for the International Derrick & Equipment Company in Odessa, earning $375 per month. He was promoted to salesman the next year and transferred to California. The Bushes returned to Texas in 1950 and bought a home in Midland on East Maple Street, a street nicknamed "Easter Egg Row" for its pastel colored houses. Bush and his neighbor and friend, John Overbey, founded the Bush-Overbey Oil Development Company in 1951. They joined with Bill and Hugh Liedtke in 1953 to form a new company, Zapata Petroleum. Drilling success helped Bush afford this larger home for his family here at 1412 West Ohio. While the family lived here their second child, Robin, was tragically stricken with leukemia; she died on October 11, 1953, two months shy of her fourth birthday. The Bushes' third child, Jeb, was born here. From here, George W. walked to neighboring Sam Houston Elementary School. The family moved into a larger home at 2703 Sentinel Drive in 1956 and moved to Houston in 1959. During the mid-1970s George W. Bush, future governor of Texas, returned to Midland to start his own career in the oil industry. In 1977 he met and married Midland native Laura Welch, future first lady of Texas. (1998) |
