Marriages and Children
Wallace's first wife, the former Lurleen Brigham Burns, died in 1968, was the first (and, as of 2012, only) woman to be elected governor of Alabama. In 1961, in keeping with the custom of the time to shield patients from the emotional impact of discussion of cancer, Wallace had withheld information from her that a uterine biopsy had found possibly precancerous cells. The couple had four children together: Bobbi Jo (1944) Parsons, Peggy Sue (1950) Kennedy, George III, known as George Junior (1951), and Lee (1961) Dye, who was named after Robert E. Lee. After Lurleen's death the couple's younger children, aged 18, 16, and 6, were sent to live with family members and friends for care (their eldest daughter had already married and left home). Their son, commonly called George Wallace, Jr., is a Democrat-turned-Republican formerly active in Alabama politics. He was twice elected State Treasurer as a Democrat, and twice elected to the Alabama Public Service Commission. He lost a race in 2008 for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. In 2010, Wallace, Jr., failed by a wide margin to win the GOP nod to regain his former position as state treasurer.
On January 4, 1971, Wallace wed the former Cornelia Ellis Snively (1939–2009), a niece of former Alabama Governor Jim Folsom, known as "Big Jim". The attractive "C'nelia" had been a performer and was nicknamed "the Jackie Kennedy of the rednecks." Her mother, the colorful and notorious Ruby Folsom, commented when told of the marriage: "Why, George ain't titty high." The couple had a bitter divorce in 1978. A few months after that divorce, she told Parade magazine, "I don't believe George needs a family. He just needs an audience. The family as audience wasn't enough for his ego." The second Mrs. Wallace died at the age of sixty-nine on January 8, 2009.
On September 9, 1981, Wallace married Lisa Taylor, a country music singer; they divorced in 1987.
Read more about this topic: George Wallace
Famous quotes containing the words marriages and/or children:
“Those Marriages generally abound most with Love and Constancy, that are preceded by a long Courtship.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“Childhood is an adventure both for children and for their parents. There should be freedom to explore and joy in discovery. The important discoveries for both parents and children seldom come at the points where the path is smooth and straight. It is the curves in that path to adventure that make the trip interesting and worthwhile.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)