Elizabeth "Bess" Virginia
Wallace Truman (1885-1982) = Former First
Lady. Favorite colors: Plum, Blue. Born in Independence, MO on February 13 to
David Willock, a banker, and Margaret "Madge" Gates Wallace . She was
the eldest and only daughter of four children. With blue-eyes and golden curls,
Bess, in her future husband Harry S. Truman's estimation, was the
"sweetest, prettiest girl" he had ever seen when he saw her for the
first time in Sunday School at the age of six. She was very popular and she
graduated from the Independence High School in 1901. She also attended the
Barstow School for Girls in Kansas City, for a year.
When Harry moved to Grandview, MO. to help his father
with the farm and while he was away at war, they wrote letters regularly.
They were married on June 28, 1919, at an Episcopal
Church and lived in her widowed mother's home. In 1924, Mary Margaret, their
first and only child, was born there.
When Harry became active in politics, first in Kansas
City, then in Washington D.C., she traveled with him and fulfilled the social
obligations of her position as a Judge's wife, a US Senator's wife, and First
Lady after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During Harry's second
term, they were denied the pleasure of living in the White House until early
1952, while the century-old Executive Mansion underwent a major renovation.
During this time, they lived in Blair House instead. In late 1952, she welcomed Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower
as the new First Lady to the White House. She was looking forward to going home
to Independence. Her chief enjoyments there were reading books from her library
and devoting time to friends and family such as her daughter, Margaret, and Margaret's husband, Clifton Daniel, and Bess & Harry's four grandsons.
More to Read:
1. Our First Ladies: Martha Washington to Pat Ryan Nixon.
By Jane & Burt McConnell. 1969.
2. The First Ladies. By Margaret Brown
Klapthor. White House Historical Association, Washington, D.C., 1979.
3. American Inaugurals: The Speeches, the Presidents, and
Their Times. By Kristen Woronoff. Blackbirch Press, New York, 2002.
4. The Presidents In American History. By Dr. Charles A.
& Wm. Beard, PhD. Julian Messner, New York, 1935; re-printed 1977.
5. Presidents of the United States. Jane
& Burt McConnell.
6. Childhoods of the American Presidents. By William O. Foss.
McFarland & Co, 2005.
7. Homes and Libraries of the Presidents. By William G.
Clotworthy. McDonald & Woodward, 2008.
8. Hospital Hill: an Illustrated
Account of Public Healthcare Institutions in Kansas City,
Missouri. James L. Soward, Kansas City: Truman Medical Center Charitable Foundation, 1995
9. University Health/Truman Hospital History
10. Harry Truman and Solomon Young's Farm home. Read here.
11. Sister-in-law, Miss Mary Jane Truman's biography.
11. Sister-in-law, Miss Mary Jane Truman's biography.
Places to Visit:
1. Bess Truman's Birthplace (private residence with marker, near Bingham-Wagner's home), 117 Ruby Ave, Independence, MO.
2. National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame (Harry's plow), 630 Hall of Fame Drive,
Bonner Springs, KS.
3. Bess Truman Clinic, Truman Medical Hospital Lakewood, 7900 Lee's Summit
Road, Kansas City, MO.
4. Truman Heritage Festival - Harry's Hay Days, Grandview, Mo.
5. Historical Marker at the Truman Marketplace Shopping Center. 71/39 Hwy, Grandview
5. Historical Marker at the Truman Marketplace Shopping Center. 71/39 Hwy, Grandview
6. Truman Home, 219 North Delaware, Independence, MO.
7. Truman Library, 500 West US Highway 24, Independence,
MO. (Bess and Harry are buried on the site of the Truman
Library.)
8. Third Street Social restaurant, 123 SE 3rd Street, Lee's Summit, MO (click on "About;" historic building along w/ photos of Harry).
Bess Truman was born here!
Updated: 12 Nov 2022.
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Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ~ Ephesians 1:15-17.