ON HIS WAY:

George Bush had been fading in the last few days. He had not gotten out of bed, he had stopped eating and he was mostly sleeping. For a man who had defied death multiple times over the years, it seemed that the moment might finally be arriving.

His longtime friend and former secretary of state, James A. Baker III, arrived at his Houston home on Friday morning to check on him.

Mr. Bush suddenly grew alert, his eyes wide open. "Where are we going, Bake?" he asked.

"We're going to heaven," Mr. Baker answered.

"That's where I want to go," Mr. Bush said.

Barely 13 hours later, Mr. Bush was dead. The 41st president died in his home in a gated community in Houston, surrounded by several friends and members of his family. As the end neared on Friday night, his son George W. Bush was put on the speaker phone to say goodbye. He told him that he had been a "wonderful dad" and that he loved him.

"I love you, too," Mr. Bush told his son.

Those were his last words. [...]

Mr. Bush did not get out of bed the last few days. Former President Barack Obama visited him on Tuesday while in town for an event with Mr. Baker. [...]

Ronan Tynan, the Irish tenor, had called earlier in the day to ask if he could drop by, and when he showed up, Ms. Becker asked him to sing to the president. Mr. Tynan sang two songs, the first "Silent Night" and the second a Gaelic song.

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