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Ex-Corbin High Band Member Recalls Playing For Bush’s Inauguration Parade

Posted at 8:01 PM, Dec 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-05 20:01:11-05

CORBIN, Ky. (LEX 18) — While the country said goodbye Wednesday to former President George H.W. Bush, for some in Corbin the services were tough to watch.

That’s because the last time they saw Bush in person, they were marching in his inauguration parade.

Alone in her Corbin High School classroom, Candy Jones closely watched the national service for Bush.

“Oh my gosh, I’ve already cried three or four times,” Jones said. “Certain things would happen, and they would so touch me because he was such a great man of integrity and character.”

Jones was hoping to share this moment with her choir students Wednesday, but classes were cancelled due to bad weather.

“I said we will be watching his funeral because I think it’s important for you all ot also respect the office of the presidency,” Jones said.

Jones gained that respect back in high school as well. When she was a student, the band was asked to perform at Bush’s inauguration parade in 1989.

“I was actually in our color guard,” she said. “We turned and looked toward the president, and he was sitting there in the front row of his grandstand. That was a very special moment.”

A moment she has never forgotten.

“Just the excitement of knowing we would get to march in a parade that was honoring our brand new elected president and he was actually the first person I ever voted for, so that was doubly exciting for me,” she said.