George H.W. Bush and a letter to live by

As I was preparing this week to co-anchor the Fox News live coverage of President George H.W. Bush’s state funeral alongside Martha MacCallum, I was combing through notes and emails from Bush family friends and former administration officials who had been watching our coverage since President Bush’s passing Friday night.

I came across one email from a friend of mine who is a very close friend of the Bush family from Maine, former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano.

I had missed Sam’s email Monday night. It included just a few lines and an attachment. It read, “41 sent this to me in December of 2009. It says all anyone needs to know about his values. Great coverage today, Sam.”

I opened the attachment to find a handwritten note from President Bush to Sam in 2009 about the president’s advice for young people. I read it and immediately thought to myself, “I need to find a way to read this on air during our funeral coverage tomorrow.”

I emailed Sam back and got his permission to share the letter with our viewers. He said that’s why he sent it to me. He said that although he couldn’t be on air with us at the National Cathedral, since he would be seated inside the service with the Maine contingent, he was happy it could be aired.