1. Columba Bush Garnica Gallo was born in the community of Arperos, in the city of Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, the daughter of Jose Maria Garnica Rodriguez, a migrant worker and waiter from Arperos, Guanajuato, and Josefina Gallo Esquivel, from Leon, who were married in February 1949.
Columba Bush's father emigrated to the United States in 1956 when she was 3 years old and her parents divorced in 1963.
Columba Bush met Jeb Bush in 1970 in Leon when she was 16 years old and he was 17.
Columba Bush was teaching English as a second language and assisting in the building of a school in the small nearby village of Ibarrilla as part of a class at Andover called Man and Society.
Garnica and Columba Bush married on February 23,1974, in Austin, Texas at the chapel in the Catholic student center on the campus of the University of Texas.
Columba Bush has been active in programs to warn young people of the dangers of drug abuse.
Columba Bush has worked on treatment and prevention programs such as the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
In 2003, as First Lady of Florida, Columba Bush was part of a delegation to Rome to celebrate John Paul II's 25th anniversary as Pope, at St Peter's Basilica.
Columba Bush used her platform to become an advocate on issues like domestic violence, substance abuse, and the arts, and she has been involved with organizations that advocate substance abuse treatment and prevention.
Columba Bush is an attorney, US Navy Reserve officer, real estate investor, and politician, who served as the Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office.