By SHIRLEY JINKINS
syjinkins@star-telegram.com
Former President George W. Bush shared insights from his White House years as well as his thoughts on faith and leadership with a rapt audience of adults, teens and children from Fort Worth Christian School on Saturday night.
"Now that I've left office, people ask if I intend to be public. No," said Bush, who spoke for an hour and answered questions from elementary students. "Nor will I be criticizing my successor. ... There are enough critics in America."
Optimism, faith and good advice were his keys while in office, Bush said.
"Even in our country's toughest moments, I was optimistic that things could be better and more hopeful," he said.
He even instructed first lady Laura Bush to choose a rug for the Oval Office "that screamed optimism."
"If you're making decisions, you'd better have yourself a set of values that are inviolate," said the president who served during 9-11. However, Bush recalled when he had to compromise his belief in free markets late in his presidency and inject money into the economy to prevent a larger economic crisis.
"Sometimes you have to set your ideology aside," Bush said.
Tickets to the fundraiser to establish an educational foundation for the school were $150 per person. About 1,200 attended the Cardinal Gala at the Omni Hotel in downtown Fort Worth.
"This is not as much a fundraiser as it is an occasion to honor a great American and to bring together the Fort Worth Christian family to do that," school President Kelly Moore said earlier.
Organizers of the event said they were a little taken aback when the former president, who lives in Dallas, accepted their invitation to speak, Moore said.
"He did have a point of reference and a contact," said Moore, who said the Bushes have friends who are either alumni or parents of Fort Worth Christian students.
Bush received an undisclosed speaker's fee.
The 40-acre school has 865 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The school has been on the same site for 51 years, Moore said.
Tuition costs range from $6,800 for pre-kindergartners to $10,200 for high school students.
Nika Maples, a Keller teacher and 1992 graduate of Fort Worth Christian, sat with Bush during dinner.
"I sat there absorbing the moment," she said "I was sitting there with history."
Bush signed a note to her class.
Teenagers seemed especially excited to see the two-term president and former Texas governor up close.
"I came away feeling that I knew him better at a whole other level," said Lauren Boa, 16, of Southlake. "Not just as a president, but as a Christian human being."
Students gave Bush a check for more than $5,000 that they collected for Haitian earthquake relief in his honor.
