Lurleen Wallace

ABOUT LURLEEN WALLACE

Forty-sixth Governor of Alabama and wife of fellow Alabama Governor George Wallace . Alabama's first female governor and the first governor in United States history to die while in office, she was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame.

She grew up in a poor Alabama family.

When her doctor diagnosed her with cancer, he told only her husband, who decided not to tell her. Until several years later, she was unaware of her life-threatening illness.

She met her future husband, a law school graduate, when she was sixteen and a sales clerk at a five-and-dime shop.

She was portrayed by actress Mare Winningham in a television movie about the life and career of her husband.