Laura Bush shares laughs in Indy

She stood in a black dress suit, looking elegant. Her Southern drawl so familiar. It's a voice we've heard a lot, that of former first lady — and new grandma — Laura Bush.

She spoke Monday at Clowes Memorial Hall as part of Butler University's Celebration of Diversity Distinguished Lecture Series.

The former teacher and public school librarian has been called one of the most beloved and admired first ladies, but really? She's funny, too.

The crowd of 1,500 laughed — a lot. Here are some of the highlights from her speech.

On being a grandma (the Bushes' daughter Jenna and her husband, Henry, recently had a baby,Mila):

"Jenna and Henry get trampled by George and me in our rush to get to her." As for what they want to be called as grandparents. "You know, it's kind of like choosing a name for your cat ... George just wants the baby to call him sir."

On past U.S. presidents:

"You had the feeling walking through those rooms (in the White House) that they were mostly decent men."

On George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks:

"People didn't get to see the George W. Bush who cried after 9/11. They still saw him as that tough cowboy character."

Her take on the attacks:

"We woke up to another life."

On one person she'd like to meet:

"I never met Nelson Mandela. It would have been wonderful to meet him."

During the speech she pulled out a bobble head of herself that one of her friends found on a clearance rack.

"When you live in the White House, you're a bobble head inside a bubble. During those eight years, I tried to make it a general policy not to read the absurd news (written about the Bushes)."

But when she did hear some of the news?

"I was surprised to learn my marriage had gone so far south I had moved out of the White House." But it must have turned around because soon after "George was buying me a $16 million mansion."

While serving as first lady, people liked to ask her…

Who do you want to be? Barbara Bush or Hillary Clinton? She always said the same thing. "I think I'll just be Laura Bush. I knew Laura Bush pretty well having grown up as her."

What she misses most from theWhite House.

"The chef."

The Bushes now live in Dallas, which Laura Bush calls " the afterlife in a place George calls the promise land."

"Now left in Dallas, our lives are back to normal. When you're married to the president of the United States you don't worry too much about him leaving his wet towels on the floor. But it's different in Dallas."

Best advice Barbara Bush gave her:

"My mother-in-law knew better than to give me advice. But I watched Barbara Bush. I had an advantage."

Best advice Hillary Clinton gave her:

"You know, when you get an opportunity to do something, don't think 'Well I'm too busy to do that,'" Bush recalled Clinton telling her. Clinton told her about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis inviting her and daughter Chelsea to a ballet. Clinton declined, saying she and Chelsea were too busy. Onassis died shortly afterwards.

"That's really good advice for all of us," Bush said, "to not think we're too busy to miss an opportunity like that."

Call Star reporter Dana Hunsinger Benbow at (317) 444-6012. Follow her on Twitter: @danabenbow.