MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Alabama first lady Cornelia Wallace, who threw herself over Gov. George C. Wallace when he was shot in a 1972 assassination attempt, has died in Sebring, Fla. She was 69.
Wallace’s cousin, Melissa Boyen, said the former first lady died Thursday from cancer.
She married George Wallace on Jan. 4, 1971, just days before he began his second term as governor.
Cornelia Wallace was a socially active first lady known for her lively personality. But for many, the most lasting memory of her occurred on May 15, 1972.
She was accompanying her husband on the Democratic campaign trail for president when Arthur Bremer shot him four times at a campaign rally in Laurel, Md. A news camera captured photos of Cornelia Wallace throwing herself over her husband’s body to shield him as he lay bleeding in a parking lot.
“She’s etched in Alabamians’ memory because of the tragedy of that,” said Joe Turnham, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party.
The Wallaces divorced in 1978 amid claims she had bugged his phone in the Governor’s Mansion.
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