Bush Attends Brother-in-Law’s Funeral Services

President Bush attended funeral services today for his brother-in-law, Alexander Ellis Jr., who died Friday of a stroke at age 67.

Ellis, a businessman and Republican Party activist, was married to the President’s only sister, Nancy Walker Bush Ellis. He ran the Boston insurance brokerage firm of Fairfield and Ellis before selling the firm in 1985 to a New York company.

Bush was accompanied by his wife, Barbara, to the services at St. Joseph’s Church, where they spent about 90 minutes before returning to Washington.

Several protesters held a vigil across the street from the church. Two held a sign saying, “Will you attend the funeral in Panama?”

Bush has encountered some criticism for the death of more than 200 civilians during the height of the invasion.

Bush, entering through a side door, apparently did not see the protesters, who were standing with about three dozen onlookers behind police barricades across the street.

On Monday, Mrs. Bush said that the same day Ellis died, she also learned of the adoption of a second child, Charles Walker Bush, by the Bushes’ son, Marvin, and daughter-in-law, Margaret, of Arlington, Va.

“So I cried all day,” Mrs. Bush said. “I cried from happiness, and I cried from sadness all day.”