Ann Romney facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ann Romney
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Romney in 2015
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| First Lady of Massachusetts | |
| In role January 3, 2003 – January 4, 2007 |
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| Governor | Mitt Romney |
| Preceded by | Chuck Hunt (acting First Gentleman) |
| Succeeded by | Diane Patrick |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ann Lois Davies
April 16, 1949 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5, including Tagg |
| Parent |
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| Relatives | Romney family |
| Education | Brigham Young University (BA) |
Ann Lois Romney (née Davies; born April 16, 1949) is an American author and a person who helps others (a philanthropist). She is married to Mitt Romney, who is a businessman and a Senator for Utah. From 2003 to 2007, Ann Romney was the First Lady of Massachusetts. This was when her husband was the governor of the state.
Ann grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She went to the private Kingswood School there. This is where she first dated Mitt Romney. In 1966, she chose to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She later attended Brigham Young University (BYU). She married Mitt Romney in 1969. In 1975, she earned a college degree in French.
As First Lady of Massachusetts, Ann Romney worked with groups that helped people. She was involved in many charities for children. One of these was called Operation Kids. She also actively supported her husband's campaigns. These were when he ran for U.S. president in 2008 and again in 2012. In 2012, he was the main candidate for the Republican Party.
In 1998, Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This is a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. She has said that different treatments helped her live a full life. She is also a skilled horse rider. She has won awards in dressage, which is a type of horse riding. In 2014, she opened the Ann Romney Center for Neurological Diseases. This center is in Boston and studies diseases like multiple sclerosis.
Ann and Mitt Romney have five sons. They were born between 1970 and 1981. They also have twenty-four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Contents
- Ann Romney's Early Life
- Marriage and Family Life
- Ann Romney's Early Political Involvement
- Living with Multiple Sclerosis
- Her Passion for Horse Riding
- Helping Others: Charitable Work
- First Lady of Massachusetts
- Her Role in the 2008 Presidential Campaign
- Between Campaigns
- Her Role in the 2012 Presidential Campaign
- After the Campaigns
- Spouse of a Senator
- Awards and Special Recognitions
- See Also
Ann Romney's Early Life
Ann Lois Davies was born in Detroit on April 16, 1949. She grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Her parents were Edward Roderick Davies and Lois (Pottinger) Davies. She has two brothers. Her father was from Wales and built his own business. His company made large machines for ships. He was also the part-time Mayor of Bloomfield Hills.
Ann Davies knew Mitt Romney from when they were young. She went to Kingswood School, which was a sister school to Mitt's all-boys Cranbrook School. They started dating in March 1965. They informally decided to get married after his high school dance in June 1965. Mitt wanted to marry soon, but Ann told him to go on a Mormon mission first. She felt he would regret it if he didn't go.
Mitt went to Stanford University for one year. Then he left for a two-and-a-half-year mission in France. In 1966, Ann decided to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mitt did not ask her to do this. Mitt's father, George W. Romney, who was the Governor of Michigan, helped her. George included her in family events while Mitt was away. Ann liked how he treated her as an equal. She chose him to baptize her into the church.
Ann finished high school in 1967. She then started college at Brigham Young University (BYU). She spent part of her first year studying in France. She was there during the 1968 Winter Olympics. She even met famous athletes like skiing star Jean-Claude Killy. Mormon mission rules meant she could only visit Mitt twice. Phone calls were also very rare. Back at BYU, she volunteered in the academic office. She dated another student who reminded her of Mitt. This made Mitt worried that she might break up with him. He sent letters asking her to wait for him.
Marriage and Family Life
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Mitt Romney returned from France in December 1968. He and Ann quickly reconnected. They decided to get married as soon as possible. Ann Davies and Mitt Romney had a civil wedding ceremony on March 21, 1969. It was at her home in Bloomfield Hills. A party followed at the Bloomfield Hills Country Club. Many important people attended, including U.S. House Minority Leader Gerald Ford. The next day, they flew to Utah for a religious ceremony. This took place inside the Salt Lake Temple. Ann's parents, who were not Mormon, could not attend this part.
Their first son, Tagg Romney, was born in 1970. This was while both Ann and Mitt were still in college at BYU. Mitt had moved from Stanford to BYU at Ann's request. After Mitt graduated, they moved to Belmont, Massachusetts. Mitt went to Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School there. Ann finished her college degree later by taking night classes. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in French language from BYU in 1975.
Ann Romney was a stay-at-home mother. She raised their five sons. Their names are Taggart (born 1970), Matthew (1971), Joshua (1975), Benjamin (1978), and Craig (1981). Her parents were concerned about her marrying so young and having a large family. She also felt different from her friends. Many educated women at that time were starting careers. Ann later said she was confident in her choices. She taught early morning religious classes to her sons and other children. She wanted to get a master's degree in art history. But raising her children and later her health issues prevented this. She was active in the local PTA. She also held cooking classes with a friend for a short time. Ann was naturally athletic and became a very good tennis player.
Ann Romney's Early Political Involvement
In 1977, Ann Romney ran for a local political position. She wanted to be a town meeting representative in Belmont. She learned about local issues and went door-to-door to meet people. She won the election.
Ann encouraged her husband to enter politics. She urged him to run for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts in 1994. He ran against the well-known Democrat Ted Kennedy. This election was Ann's first time in the public eye. She campaigned for him every night. Some people thought she seemed too simple or too obedient to her husband. Some writers even called her a "Stepford wife".
Near the end of that campaign, she gave a long interview. She said that she and her husband had never had a serious argument. This comment was laughed at. She also said they were poor students. But they lived off money from Mitt's father's stock and loans. This made her seem privileged and unaware of real struggles. A professor later said she "definitely hurt him in that race." After her husband lost, Ann said she would "Never" be involved in campaigns again. She called the experience "a real education."
Living with Multiple Sclerosis
In 1997, Ann Romney started feeling severe numbness and tiredness. In November 1998, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). Mitt Romney said watching her fail nerve tests was the worst day of his life. He said, "I couldn't operate without Ann. We're a partnership." Ann first had a very difficult time with the disease. She later said, "I was very sick in 1998... I was pretty desperate, pretty frightened and very, very sick."
Since then, she has used a mix of traditional and alternative treatments. She says these have helped her live mostly without limits. She first used corticosteroids, which helped stop the disease from getting worse. But she stopped them due to side effects. She has also tried reflexology, acupuncture, and craniosacral therapy. She believes both Eastern and Western medicine have value. She is on the board of the New England chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Her Passion for Horse Riding
Ann Romney loves horse riding. She says getting back into riding helped her recover from her MS diagnosis. This was when she lived in Park City, Utah. She believes riding helped her deal with the disease. She has said that riding "saved my life." She explained that she was losing control of her right side. She decided to go back to what she loved before she couldn't do it anymore. At first, she got tired easily on a horse. But the muscle control needed for riding helped her get stronger. She also felt happier and had more purpose. She said, "My desire to ride was, and is, so strong that I kept getting healthier and healthier."
She has been recognized nationally in dressage as an adult amateur. She earned Gold and Silver Medals at the Grand Prix level. She also sometimes competes professionally. Ann works with trainer Jan Ebeling in California. They import horses from Europe. In 2004, they qualified for the Pan-Am games.
By 2011, her horses were worth over $250,000. The Romneys helped Jan Ebeling pursue his dream of competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics. Ann was there in June 2012 when Ebeling, riding her horse Rafalca, earned a spot on the U.S. dressage team. At the London games in August 2012, she watched them place 28th.
Helping Others: Charitable Work
Ann Romney has been involved in many charities for children. She was a director for Best Friends, which helps teenage girls in cities. She also worked with the Ten Point Coalition in Boston. These groups aimed to make urban areas safer for young people.
She was an honorary board member of Families First. This program teaches parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She also volunteered to teach middle school girls at the Mother Caroline Academy in Boston.
Ann has said her interest in helping children started when she saw a vehicle carrying boys to a detention center. Soon after, she began volunteering for the United Way of Massachusetts Bay. By 2002, she was on their board. She worked with local religious groups to help children at risk. She also helped start United Way Faith and Action. Earlier, by 1996, she was on the Massachusetts Advisory Board of Stand for Children.
During the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, she helped lead the Olympic Aid charity. This group provides sports activities for children in areas affected by war.
First Lady of Massachusetts
Ann Romney joined her husband's campaign for governor in 2002 from the very beginning. She nominated him at the state party meeting. A TV ad called "Mitt and Ann" showed their love story. She avoided media interviews, learning from her 1994 experience. But she was a strong force behind the scenes. Her husband won the election.
In January 2003, Ann Romney became the First Lady of Massachusetts. She held this role until January 2007. In this position, she usually kept a low public profile. Her husband initially said she would not have a public role in his government. In 2006, The Boston Globe said she was "largely invisible" in the state. However, she was becoming more visible outside the state. This was because of her husband's possible presidential campaign. Ann Romney was president of the Doric Docents. These are volunteers who give tours of the State House. They teach visitors about its history and how laws are made.
In 2004, she said she supported stem cell research. She believed it should be done "morally and ethically." One of her rare public appearances at the Massachusetts State House was in 2004. She spoke to lawmakers to raise awareness about multiple sclerosis.
In 2005, the governor appointed his wife to lead a new office. This office helped faith-based groups in the state get more money from the federal government. This was part of a White House program. Ann Romney was called a "dynamo" in this unpaid role.
When her time as First Lady ended, Ann Romney said the role "doesn't need to change your life at all." She saw it as a chance to serve and meet people from all over the state. She said it was an "enriching part of your life." Her health was always a main factor in her husband's career choices. Mitt said in 2005 that if her MS got worse, he would leave politics.
Her Role in the 2008 Presidential Campaign
Ann Romney was very active in her husband's 2008 presidential campaign. By late 2007, she was traveling and appearing more often on her own. This was despite the risk that stress could worsen her health.
Her political messages often included stories about her family. She also shared recipes or talked about managing her MS. Ann Romney appeared in many of her husband's TV ads in early primary states. By the end of 2007, she was the most visible wife of all the Republican candidates. She later admitted that she sometimes wanted to "come out of my seat and clock somebody" when her husband was criticized. But she learned to "just take a deep breath." By the time he ended his campaign in February 2008, she openly disliked the whole process.
Between Campaigns
In late 2008, Ann Romney was diagnosed with a non-invasive type of breast cancer. She had the lump removed. She then had radiation therapy. Her doctors said she would recover well. She later said she was "really lucky" to have found it so early. President-elect Barack Obama was among those who called to wish her well. She has been cancer-free since then.
In June 2009, Ann Romney became the first spouse to be included in the official portrait of a Massachusetts governor. This was at her husband's request.
For many years, the Romneys lived in Belmont, Massachusetts. But they sold this house and their Utah home in 2009. They then lived in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, and in La Jolla, San Diego, California. The La Jolla home was near where she rode horses. It was also good for her MS treatments and cancer recovery. They also bought a smaller apartment in Belmont in 2010.
Her Role in the 2012 Presidential Campaign
Ann Romney spoke about her husband possibly running for president again in 2012. In March 2010, she said the process would hold no surprises this time. She said if he decided to run, she would support him. Even though she still didn't like politics, she urged her husband to run. She was one of the few family members who first supported the idea.
Once the campaign started, she campaigned for her husband. She criticized the actions of the Obama administration. She sometimes did funny skits with her husband to make him seem more friendly. Ann Romney said that if she became First Lady of the United States, she would work with at-risk youths. She also wanted to help people with multiple sclerosis. She admired three former first ladies: Mamie Eisenhower, Nancy Reagan, and Barbara Bush.
By December 2011, Ann Romney took on a bigger role in the campaign. She tried to show a more complete picture of her husband. She talked about their 42 years of marriage. She also spoke about his strength after her MS diagnosis. This quietly showed a contrast with other candidates. She was known in the family as the "Mitt-stabilizer." This was because she had a calming effect on her husband. She continued this role during the ups and downs of the campaign. She started appearing with him more often in February 2012. This was when he was competing with Rick Santorum in the Republican primaries. She also spoke about their wealth. She said, "Look, I don't even consider myself wealthy... how I measure riches is by the friends I have."
In April 2012, Ann Romney was in the news. A Democratic commentator said Ann was not fit to talk about women's money issues. This was because she was a stay-at-home mother and had "never worked a day in her life." Ann Romney responded with her first tweet. She wrote, "I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work." The commentator apologized the next day. Like all presidential candidates' wives, her clothing choices were watched closely. Some liked her modern look. Others said her style was not consistent. On August 28, Ann Romney gave a speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention. She talked about her background and family experiences. This was to appeal to women voters. By early October, she and her son Tagg convinced the campaign to focus more on her husband's personal side.
In the election on November 6, 2012, Mitt Romney lost. President Obama was re-elected. The Romneys and their campaign staff thought they would win. Ann cried when her husband realized they had lost. She looked upset as she joined him on stage after his speech.
After the Campaigns
After the election, Ann Romney was asked to appear on Dancing with the Stars. She was a fan of the show but said no. She said, "I would've loved to have done it... I'm not really as flexible as I should be." She still felt sad about the election loss, perhaps more than her husband. In October 2013, she published a cookbook. It was called The Romney Family Table: Sharing Home-Cooked Recipes & Favorite Traditions. It became a New York Times Best Seller.
The Romneys spent most of their time with their grandchildren. By 2018, they had twenty-four grandchildren. Their first great-grandchild arrived in 2021. They bought a house in Park City, Utah. They also bought a property in Holladay, Utah, for horses. They planned to build a new house there. The Romneys also got permission to build a much bigger home in La Jolla. For a short time, they had five homes. These were located near each of their five sons. They then sold their apartment in Belmont. They decided to make Utah their main home.
In 2014, the Ann Romney Center for Neurological Diseases opened. It is at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The center aims to raise $50 million. It focuses on research into Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and brain tumors. The center has about 250 scientists. Ann Romney is the Global Ambassador there. She gives inspiring talks about overcoming challenges with diseases. She said, "I know what it's like to be desperate... I am going to give people hope." She sees the center as connecting researchers and funding new treatments.
In 2014, there was talk that Mitt Romney might run for president a third time. Ann Romney said it would not happen. She said, "Done. Completely. Not only Mitt and I are done, but the kids are done." However, she later left open a small chance. By January 2015, advisors said she supported the idea. But Mitt soon decided not to run.
In March 2015, her book Whatever You Choose to Be: 8 Tips for the Road Ahead was published. This book was based on a speech she gave at Southern Utah University. In September 2015, her memoir In This Together: My Story was published. In it, she talked about her MS diagnosis. She also shared the treatments that helped her. She wrote about the important role her family played. The book became popular among people affected by MS.
During the 2016 election, Romney felt sympathy for Hillary Clinton. Clinton was also criticized for not being relatable. Ann was puzzled by Donald Trump's success. He talked about his wealth, but the Romneys were criticized for theirs. Trump praised Ann Romney as "a lovely woman." Ann Romney received at least one vote for president. Her husband wrote her name in on his ballot in November 2016. He said he voted for "a person who I admire deeply."
Spouse of a Senator
Two years later, Ann Romney campaigned again. This time, it was for her husband in the 2018 United States Senate election in Utah. She encouraged him to run. She told him, "This is a time when you're needed." She noted his family's history in the state. As in the past, he relied heavily on her advice.
During campaign events, she spoke about the political climate in the U.S. She said that politeness and kindness had been lost. She noted that she never read comments on her social media posts. This was because of the negative comments found there.
Her husband won the election and took office in January 2019. Ann did not want to live in Washington, D.C. She rarely joined her husband at the townhouse they bought there. In April 2019, the couple published a self-help book. It was called Simple Truths for an Abundant Life: From One Generation to Another. In it, they shared how their life experiences showed ways to handle different parts of life.
During the attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, Ann traveled to Palm Beach, Florida. Some of her horses were kept there. But supporters of Donald Trump were very upset about her husband's vote on the first presidential impeachment. This showed how angry American politics had become. She felt something bad might happen on January 6, 2021. She unsuccessfully urged her husband to stay away that day.
In 2021, the couple sold their house in La Jolla. They continued to host an annual family gathering. This was at their summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee. By this point, about forty people attended.
Awards and Special Recognitions
In 2005, Ann Romney received an honorary degree from Mount Ida College. In 2006, she received the MS Society Inspiration Award. She also got the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from Operation Kids. In May 2008, she and her husband received the Canterbury Medal. This was for "refus[ing] to compromise their principles and faith" during the 2008 presidential campaign. In 2014, Romney received an honorary degree in public service from Southern Utah University. This was for her help with children and families. In 2019, she received the Public Leadership in Neurology Award. This was from the American Brain Foundation for her work in MS research.
See Also
In Spanish: Ann Romney para niños
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