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On January 16, 1967, Lurleen Wallace was inaugurated as Alabama’s first female governor

Lurleen Wallace was inaugurated as Alabama’s first female governor–and only the third nationwide–as an estimated 150,000 look on. Wallace succeeded her husband George C. Wallace, who was barred by law at the time from serving consecutive terms. She died in office of cancer on May 7, 1968.” (Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Lurleen Wallace was the 46th governor of Alabama and served for fifteen months from January 1967 until her death in May 1968. She was Alabama’s first, and to that date, only female governor. She was also the only female governor in U.S. history to have died in office.

Vintage book -1991 Honda Civic Electrical Troubleshooting Manual (ETM)

“Lurleen Brigham Burns was born to Henry Burns and the former Estelle Burroughs of Fosters in Tuscaloosa County. She graduated in 1942 from Tuscaloosa County High School at the age of fifteen. She then worked at Kresge’s Five and Dime in Tuscaloosa, where she met George Wallace, at the time a member of the United States Army Air Corps. The couple married on May 22, 1943, when she was 16 and she focused on being a mother and homemaker for the next 20 years.” (Wikipedia)

Election Shocks (1966)

The Wallaces had four children: Bobbi Jo (1944) Parsons, Peggy Sue (1950) Kennedy, George Wallace, III (1951), and Janie Lee (1961) Dye, who was named after Robert E. Lee.

ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Statehood: Lost & Forgotten Stories presents the times and conditions pioneers faced in lost & forgotten stories which include:

  • Who Controlled And Organized The New State of Alabama?
  • Tuscaloosa Had Three Other Names
  • Chandelier Falls & Capitol Burns
  • Alabama Throws Parties For General LaFayette
  • Francis Scott Key Was Sent to Alabama To Solve Problems

 


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72 comments

  1. Mary Elizabeth Kimbrough

  2. Jan 2017, Gov Bentley had her portrait removed at the capital and placed his portrait while as acting Gov. What a shame!

  3. OK, so why, State of Alabama & all Alabama TV stations, aren’t you reporting this as a celebration along with Robert E. Lee’s & MLK, Jr.’s birthdays…this is a very big slur on her memory. This is something she & the voters did for this state only…MLK did what he did for the whole US, not just Alabama. I’m not refuting anything that Dr. King did, it was great, just give just dues to LBW.

  4. And I was there that day. It was a big story but at 14 years old I didn’t know it then

  5. Is there anyone out there who remembers a man working with Gov. Wallace for handicapped rights, John Ed Daniel??? He was my uncle….just curious…

  6. And on the same day, I met my husband for the first time. I was on a float in the inaugural parade and he drove a bus with band students who were marching in the parade.

  7. I was a youngster but thought she was a lovely lady.

  8. I was riding on a float in the parade.

  9. Ann Haynes Waid, do you remember riding in the inaugural parade?

  10. George thought he would run the State through Lurleen. He found out differently. She had a mind of her own and George wasn’t able to be a surrogate governor. It was sad to see her pass away, because she was a classy lady, unlike her husband who was an insufferable jerk. Quite unlike George, she projected a very positive image for the state of Alabama.

  11. My grandmother kept a small, framed print of this portrait on a marble-topped end table in her formal living room.

  12. Met her as a child on a school trip. Very gracious and beautiful as she shook hands with each and every one of us.

  13. Meet her parents at a get together at there home town of Fosters, Alabama and sung for them, very sweet people.

    1. live in Fosters my grandfather owned land that once belong to the Burns

  14. And Bentley dishonoured her by moving her picture from its rightful place. That proves what he really thinks of women.

  15. Didn’t she have some Folsom kin?

  16. I was 7 and thought she was lovely. It quite fascinated me to see her on tv and in newspapers.

  17. Has her portrait been returned to it’s rightful place, in the capital building?

  18. I thought she was beautiful. I admired her as a child!

  19. my grandfather owned land that once belong to the Burns family ..

  20. Beautiful lady!!!

  21. Mary Lynn Gowin Lurly’s namesake.

  22. I am honored that her signature is on my college degree.

  23. Saw this beautiful dress (I think) at the archives recently!Beautiful!

  24. I was honored to meet her in the 6th grade when we went to state capital on school trip. She greeted each of us and shook our hands. We were one of several groups to go through the capital that day.
    .

  25. Samantha Rose Pullen Wasn’t this our topic of convo just the other day?

  26. Daddy and Thelma drove to Montgomery when her body was lying instate at the Capitol. They stood in line to pay their respect for her.

  27. Lurleen Wallace Cancer Center in Birmingham Alabama. My brother took treatments there

  28. AGPHS band marched in her Inauguration Parade. She was a lovely lady.

  29. Her Parents lived in Knoxville, Alabama. When they would visit they would bring Little George for me to keep him for a while.

  30. land my grandfather once owned was supposed to of been owned by her parents .. i live Fosters

  31. She was a beautiful Lady. I had the honor of meeting her and George Jr.

  32. She had cervical cancer which was discovered by her doctor during childbirth delivering her third child. The doctor told Wallace who told him to never tell Lurleen. So, she never received treatment or any medical care for this and died of cancer.

  33. I met her at the capitol when I won a speech/essay contest in high school. She was very gracious to me.

  34. I had a copy of this picture.

  35. she has a lot of buildings named for her – such as the nursing building at JSU

  36. I picnicked many a weekend at Lake Lurleen

  37. I have her biography. Never voted for Georgie but I admired her.

  38. She was a nice lady

  39. Always loved that portrait

  40. One of the finest and most decent Christian ladies I ever met in my life and I am proud she was our governor.Her speeches should be read and taken to heart as she was a very dedicated citizen rights advocate.

  41. Take time and write your star representative and tell them you want her official portrait returned to the Rotunda where it rightfully belongs. Not in a back hall way out of view from the general public. You can thank the pervert Gov. Robert Bentley for moving it.

  42. She defined the “term” lady. There aren’t many now who do that. I never voted for George, but did for her. Even thought she was standing in for him, I just admired her.

  43. She knew she had cancer when she ran. Her Republican opponent, Martin , knew also

  44. I remember the announcement that she had died on TV. I was having breakfast at my grandmother’s. I had spent the night after a PT-O
    meeting. So sad.

  45. She was a true lady of Alabama and the South

  46. She was most certainly a Lady.

  47. My Ggrandfather Charles Campbell MD delivered her he was payed a calf for his medical services

  48. My college degree had her signature on it.

  49. My dad was a dispatcher with the Alabama State Troopers and he said she was real sweetheart. (Not in a sarcastic way, either)

  50. She is related to me. I always liked her.

  51. She was a Beautiful person