
Johnson’s ranch.Ĭlaire Faulkner, an administrative officer until earlier this month, helped with the overall management of the historic home. Here, she sits in the Green Room, a parlor on the first floor where James Madison signed the nation’s first declaration of war.

Over the years, the staff became like our friends and family.

As Barbara Bush used to say, you could be changing your clothes and a staff member could accidentally open the door to vacuum. It was the chief usher, Gary Walters, who saw how unhappy my mother-in-law was with her official portrait and suggested she have a new one painted. She took his advice and we unveiled her new portrait in January 2005, two weeks before George began his second term.

We rarely heard stories about previous presidential families.
