BIDDEFORD – There are plenty of buildings and facilities named for either George H.W. Bush or Barbara Bush.

A children’s hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland is named for Barbara, and Houston’s airport and the CIA’s headquarters in Virginia are named for the former president, who once was the head of the agency.

Now, for the first time, a building carries the names of both: It’s the George and Barbara Bush Center on the University of New England campus in Biddeford.

The couple, who plan to be at their summer home in Kennebunkport for another couple of days, attended a dedication ceremony for the building Friday.

It won’t actually be open to the public, students and school officials until later this year.

The $5 million building will house a cafe for students, offices for UNE officials, meeting rooms and a display of Bush memorabilia, including dozens of pictures of the Bushes relaxing at Walker’s Point, some of Bush’s fishing rods and a replica of his presidential desk.

The display, “Our Friends, Our Neighbors: the Bushes at Walker’s Point,” will be permanent on the second floor of the three-story building.

Barbara Bush said it’s especially fitting that a building named after the couple is located in southern Maine. She noted that her husband has spent part of almost every summer in Kennebunkport and that he proposed to her while they sat on rocks at Walker’s Point, “which, frankly, was the only place we could be alone” at the famously bustling family compound.

George Bush commented on the building’s nautical design touches, including a balcony that comes to a point much like a ship’s bow, and a large anchor set outside the structure.

The former president is known in Kennebunkport as an avid boater who zips around in his speedboat. His ties to the sea extend far back, including his service in World War II, during which he was the Navy’s youngest aviator at one time.

Bush said he hopes to return to UNE and use the offices and meeting rooms for future events.

He also noted that he would have preferred to drive his speedboat from Kennebunkport to the waterfront campus, but wound up driving there because the seas were too rough Friday. “Next time I come, I’ll be at anchorage over there,” he said, referring to moorings a few hundred yards from the new center.

The speedboat burns its share of gas, Bush said, but he also pointed out that Walker’s Point now has solar panels and a windmill, offsetting some of that fuel use.

Danielle Ripich, UNE’s president, said the university is talking to officials at Texas A&M, where Bush’s official presidential library is located, about an agreement that would allow Bush family artifacts to be on temporary display.

in Biddeford. She also said there is some discussion that could lead to some sharing of academic resources as well.

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