PORTLAND – Former first lady Barbara Bush received an honorary degree and delivered the commencement address Saturday at graduation ceremonies for the University of New England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.

“Even before you hang out your shingles, you are real heroes in my mind,” she told a crowd at Merrill Auditorium.

Mrs. Bush, the mother of president George W. Bush and wife of former President George H.W. Bush, received an honorary degree of humane letters from the Biddeford college, which specializes in teaching primary care physicians.

The medical college, which graduated 104 osteopathic physicians Saturday, is Maine’s only medical school and the only osteopathic medical school in New England.