Laura Welch, the quiet librarian with a strict Methodist background, must have seemed an improbable life partner for George W. Bush, who, as a bachelor, loved to party, date lots of girls and sometimes drank too much.
But there was strong mutual attraction when they were introduced by friends in 1977 just before she turned 30. Within six months they had married and settled down together in Midland, an oil town in west Texas.
She has said she found him "exciting" and "I supposedly calm him down." He was looking for stability after an earlier engagement and sowing some wild oats, including a drunk-driving conviction revealed this week. He is said to have been influenced by the fact that he knew his parents, George snr and Barbara, would like the reserved young woman.
A friend of George jnr from Yale, Roland Betts, has said, "George's father is the single biggest influence on his life. Laura was the first woman whom he both loved and knew would satisfy their high standard."
Laura gave up her career as teacher and librarian to raise their twin girls, Jenna and Barbara, as her husband tried various careers of his own, including oil prospector and later, part-owner of a baseball team.
Laura was influential in Bush's decision to give up drinking at the age of 40 and says she told him he ought to quit. "But the person who stopped drinking was George."
This week she had the unpleasant job of calling her daughters to tell them her father had been convicted of drunk driving before they would learn it from the media. Then she stood loyally beside him as he faced the media barrage. The incident happened the year before they were married. We have not been told if he even told her about it. Bush has said he did not tell his daughters because "I didn't want them drinking and driving. It was a decision I made."
Laura Bush was not enthusiastic about his decision to run for Governor in 1994, afraid the campaigning and life in the Governor's mansion could be a disruptive influence for the children. She was even more apprehensive when he was sounded out by Republicans for a presidential run.
But she has overcome her doubts and has campaigned frequently at her husband's side. She has become a favourite with crowds and George Bush makes sure to pay her compliments when they appear together. "You can know a man by the company he keeps," he tells the crowds.
She was one of the speakers at the Republican Convention in Philadelphia last August and, while she was nervous, the partisan crowd loved her speech. She has learned not to criticise her husband's speeches. Once when she did, he drove the car into the garage wall.
Now as she campaigns at her husband's side, and is a behind-the-scenes adviser, she is being assessed as a future First Lady. She is deeply interested in education and literacy for deprived children and would certainly promote this cause from the White House. She shares these interests with her formidable mother-in-law, Barbara Bush.