Parties Extra!---December 26, 2008---George W. Bush portrait unveiled

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OKLAHOMANS VISIT WASHINGTON

Dr. William Lee Beasley, Sherry Beasley, Alice Dahlgren, Don Dahlgren, Edward Cook, Kaye Cook, Dr. Robert Ellis, Nancy Payne Ellis, Dr. Dodge Hill and Lori Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo provided).

President  George W. Bush unveiled his presidential portrait Dec. 19th for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.  recently. Oklahomans who helped fund the portrait attended the Dec. 19 dedication.

Robert Anderson, a Yale classmate of the president, was the artist.

500 people were at the event where Bush and G. Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, pulled a blue cloth off the portrait to reveal a casual pose of Bush.

In The Oklahoman’s article by Chris Casteel, he noted that a group of Oklahoma donors provided about 80 percent of funding for the portrait and associated costs. He also reported that most of the donors made the trip to Washington and met with the president and Laura Bush before the dedication.