President George Bush, First Lady Laura Bush at Preserve America Presidential Awards, White House Rose Garden, Washington, D.C., honoring staff of The Mount, Lenox, Massachusetts; Texas Historic Trails; Bolduc Properties, Sainte Genevieve, Missouri; Isaiah Davenport House, Savannah, Georgia

Laura Lane Welch Bush (born November 4, 1946) is the wife of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, and was the First Lady from 2001 to 2009. Bush graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in education, and took a job as a second grade teacher. After attaining her master's degree in library science at the University of Texas at Austin, she was employed as a librarian. Bush is of English, French, and Swiss ancestry. Her father was a home builder and later successful real estate developer, while her mother worked as the bookkeeper for her father's business.