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:
“The happiest two-job marriages I saw during my research were ones in which men and women shared the housework and parenting. What couples called good communication often meant that they were good at saying thanks to one another for small aspects of taking care of the family. Making it to the school play, helping a child read, cooking dinner in good spirit, remembering the grocery list,... these were silver and gold of the marital exchange.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“Many Americans imagine simpler times even as a storm of social change swirls about, blowing parents here and children there. Sure, the 1950s ideal world would be wonderful. But knock on the nation’s doors: Ozzie and Harriet are seldom at home.”
—Leslie Dreyfous (20th century)