Barbara Bush’s Legacy in Literacy Lives On

Thirty-five years ago today the former first lady launched her namesake foundation that has transformed adult literacy and lives.

Former First Lady Barbara Bush and then Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft attend a "Parents as Teachers" parent and child group at the Ferguson-Florissant School District in Florissant, Missouri, where Mrs. Bush reads "Brown Bear Brown Bear" to the children in 1991. (Photo: National Archives and Records Administration)

Tasha Humphreys didn’t want to lie anymore on job applications about earning a high school diploma.

So when Humphreys and her newly blended family moved to Maine from Florida in the early 2000s, she had already decided to give one last-ditch effort at earning her GED. By then, the mother of five who dropped out of high school in ninth grade had attempted the certification twice. But with her youngest children entering the school system and a new start in a new state, she wasn’t ready to give up on her own education.

Those first two attempts were beyond frustrating.  

Humphreys, who was born in Louisiana, describes her unstable upbringing that forced her to move a lot during her c…