Cornelia Wallace

Who was Cornelia Wallace?

Cornelia Ellis Wallace, previously Cornelia Ellis Snively, was the First Lady of Alabama from 1971–1978 and the second wife of Democratic Governor George C. Wallace.

Mrs. Wallace attracted national attention on May 15, 1972, when, at the age of thirty-three, she threw herself over her husband when he was shot four times by Arthur Bremer during an assassination attempt at a shopping center in Laurel, Maryland. At the time, Wallace was seeking support in his bid for his party's presidential nomination.

Mrs. Wallace was born in Elba in southeastern Alabama to Charles G. Ellis, a civil engineer who died in 1960, and the former Ruby Folsom, a sister of Governor Jim Folsom. She attended Methodist Huntingdon College and Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and studied voice and piano. She sang and played guitar and toured Australia and Hawaii with Country music singer Roy Acuff. She wrote and performed two songs for M-G-M: "It's No Summer Love" and "Baby with the Barefoot Feet".