Alabama Governor, Wife of Alabama Governor George C. Wallace. Because of an Alabama law prohibiting governors from serving consecutive terms, Governor George Wallace had his wife campaign for governor. She won the election, and was inaugurated in January, 1967, as the first female governor of Alabama. She acted as a figurehead, with her husband controlling the actual policies and procedures of the governor's office. After only one year in office, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Despite surgery and radiation treatments, the cancer spread, and she died in 1968, during her husband's unsuccessful Presidential campaign. Her successor, Albert Brewer, created the Lurleen Wallace Courage Crusade, which eventually helped raise money to build the first cancer treatment center in Alabama. The Lurleen B. Wallace Tumor Institute and the Wallace Patient Tower at the University of Alabama (Birmingham) Medical Center are named in her honor, as is Lake Lurleen in central Alabama.
Alabama Governor, Wife of Alabama Governor George C. Wallace. Because of an Alabama law prohibiting governors from serving consecutive terms, Governor George Wallace had his wife campaign for governor. She won the election, and was inaugurated in January, 1967, as the first female governor of Alabama. She acted as a figurehead, with her husband controlling the actual policies and procedures of the governor's office. After only one year in office, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Despite surgery and radiation treatments, the cancer spread, and she died in 1968, during her husband's unsuccessful Presidential campaign. Her successor, Albert Brewer, created the Lurleen Wallace Courage Crusade, which eventually helped raise money to build the first cancer treatment center in Alabama. The Lurleen B. Wallace Tumor Institute and the Wallace Patient Tower at the University of Alabama (Birmingham) Medical Center are named in her honor, as is Lake Lurleen in central Alabama.
Bio by: Dustin Oliver
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