Former Alabama first lady Cornelia Wallace dies

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Former Alabama first lady Cornelia Wallace has died in Sebring, Fla. She was 69. Wallace’s cousin, Melissa Boyen, said the former first lady, who died Thursday, had been suffering from cancer.

Cornelia Wallace was the niece of former Gov. James E. “Big Jim” Folsom. She married George Wallace in 1971, shortly before his second term as governor, and they divorced in 1978. She threw herself over her husband when he was shot while campaigning for governor in Laurel, Md., in 1972.

Funeral arrangements are pending.