Former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe was lucky enough to be President George H.W. Bush's Tennessee campaign manager in 1980 during his first run for president. Ashe also called Bush a friend.
"I was privileged to know the late President Bush for probably over 45 years," Ashe noted.
Ashe first met the Bush family when he attended Yale with then student George W. Bush in the 60's. He remembers the bond the two shared while H.W. was a Houston Congressman.
"It was obviously a very close family," Ashe admitted. "He admired his dad and his dad occasionally came to Yale campus where he too had been a graduate at the end of World War Two."
Eventually, Ashe became H.W.'s Tennessee campaign manager in 1980 during Bush's first run for president, and says he enjoyed the Scruffy City while on the campaign trail.
"He was behind, but he came to Knoxville," Ashe remembered. "He got here the night before on a Sunday and had some free time and wanted to go jogging on the Tom Black Track on the UT campus is where he went. I remember he went and had dinner at the Ye Olde Steakhouse on Chapman Highway and I don't know if they knew who he was or not, but he enjoyed it."
Ashe says although H.W. didn't win the presidency that go round, when his time came in 1988, Ashe had been Knoxville Mayor for 3 weeks, and 41 was sworn in the same year.
"When he did become president, he was probably one of the most qualified people and had the shortest learning curve of any of the new presidents around," Ashe noted.
And he has no doubt that last night, there was a glorious reunion with those he loved most.
"There's no question, he's in heaven with not only his wife Barbara but his daughter Robin," Ashe said.