Former President George H.W. Bush breaks neck bone in fall

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine, July 15 (UPI) -- Former President George Herbert Walker Bush was hospitalized Wednesday after a fall at his family's residence in Maine, his spokesman said.

The former commander-in-chief broke a bone in his neck at the Bush family's compound in Kennebunkport, although the injury is not serious.

Bush "fell at home in Maine today and broke a bone in his neck," his longtime spokesman, Jim McGrath, tweeted Wednesday. "His condition is stable -- he is fine -- but he'll be in a neck brace."

The 91-year-old Bush, the oldest living former U.S. president, has fallen into ill health in recent years -- making Wednesday's accident the latest in a string of hospitalizations for the former one-term president.

In 2012 and 2013, Bush was hospitalized for bronchial illness and a form of Parkinson's disease, respectively. Recently, Jeb Bush said his father could no longer walk on his own.

Bush and his wife, former first lady Barbara, usually spend the summer months in coastal Kennebunkport and the remainder of the year in Houston.

President between 1989 and 1993, Bush succeeded Ronald Reagan in the White House after serving for eight years as his vice president.