We’ve lost one of the good ones.

Since news of George H.W. Bush’s death over the weekend, there’s been a seemingly endless supply of stories about the nation’s 41st president. His was not the perfect life, but it was by all measures one well lived and of great service.

He’s the rarity for most of us, a sitting president who ran for re-election and did not win. Reagan, Clinton, Bush’s son George W. and Barack Obama — all were two-term presidents representing both parties over the last 40 years. In the last 100 years, he’s on such a list with Herbert Hoover, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter — that’s it.

It’s nearly a “How can that be?” reflection when considering Bush was a hero from World War II, vice president to Reagan, United Nations ambassador and CIA director. He won a seat in the U.S. House in 1966, supporting civil rights legislation when it wasn’t popular at home in Texas.

Not only that, he was our country’s voice as the scary decades of the Cold War ended and the leader of a signature military win in the Middle East. The victory in the Persian Gulf War, forcing Iraq out of Kuwait, was over quickly — a sharp contrast to the war in the Middle East still being waged 17 years after 9/11.

Bush himself said communication was not his strength, and his pitfalls in messages would be his undoing in trying to win a second term.

In today’s political climate, where changing your mind is akin to political suicide, he might not have even been close. Once a supporter of abortion rights, Bush changed to an intense foe, saying his views had evolved. He was thoroughly roasted by Democrats for his “read my lips” stance on raising taxes in the 1988 campaign, only to change course in summer of 1990.

In each case Bush did what he thought best for the country. We would learn later that in his diary, he knew as he agreed to a budget deal with Democrats that tax revenue increases could mean a one-term presidency, “but it’s that important to the country.”

He wasn’t the best in campaigning in 1980 losing the party nomination to Reagan and not in the 1988 victory over Michael Dukakis. He was negative, and that certainly wasn’t the “help everybody” style that generated our affirmative smiles this past week.

His was to do what is best for the country, what is best for others. How else to describe refusing to gloat or embarrass Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev in his admission of communism as a failure? How else to describe going against a significant campaign promise on taxes?

The stories of “Have-half” and skydives at age 80 and desk drawer notes fill in some gaps, giving color to one of our generation’s greatest treasures.

Rest in peace, President Bush. Your honesty is admirable, and we are forever grateful for your service to our country.