Ann Romney
Encyclopedia
Ann Romney is the wife of American businessman and Republican Party
politician Mitt Romney
. From 2003 to 2007 she was First Lady
of Massachusetts
.
She was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
and attended the private Kingswood School there, where she dated Mitt Romney. Influenced by their relationship, she converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1966. She began attending Brigham Young University
, then married Mitt Romney in 1969. The couple have five children, born between 1970 and 1981. She completed her undergraduate education at Harvard Extension School
with a bachelor's degree in 1975.
In 1998, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
. A mixture of mainstream and alternative treatments has given her a lifestyle mostly without limitations. She found equestrian
activities to be therapeutic and has become an avid participant in the sport, receiving recognition in dressage
as an adult amateur at the national level and competing professionally in Grand Prix as well. While serving as Massachusetts First Lady, she was the governor's liaison for federal faith-based initiatives. She has been involved in a number of children's charities, including Operation Kids
. She was an active participant in her husband's 2008 presidential run
, where she became the most visible of all the Republican candidates' wives in campaigning, and is campaigning again during his 2012 presidential bid
.
, by parents Edward R. Davies and Lois Davies. Her father, originally from Wales
, was a self-made businessman who became president of Jered Industries, a maker of heavy machinery for marine use; he also was mayor of Bloomfield Hills. Raised in the Welsh Congregationalists, he had become strongly opposed to all organized religion, although on her request the family very occasionally attended church, and she nominally identified as an Episcopalian.
Ann Davies knew of Mitt Romney since elementary school
. She went to the private Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, which was the sister school to the all-boys Cranbrook School that he attended. The two were re-introduced and began dating in March 1965; they informally agreed to marriage after his senior prom
in June 1965.
While he was attending Stanford University
for a year and then was away starting two-and-a-half years of Mormon missionary duty
in France
, she decided on her own to convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during 1966. In doing so she accepted the guidance of Mitt's father George Romney
, the Governor of Michigan
. She graduated from high school in 1967 and began attending Brigham Young University
(BYU). She also spent a semester at the University of Grenoble in France during her freshman year. The Mormon missionary rules only allowed her two brief visits with Mitt and very rare telephone calls with him. While at BYU she dated and developed strong feelings for future business academic Kim S. Cameron
, while Mitt implored her to wait for his return.
; her family could not attend since they were non-Mormons, but were present at a subsequent wedding breakfast held for them across the street.
The couple's first son was born in 1970 while both were undergraduates at Brigham Young, living in a $75-a-month basement apartment
. After he graduated, the couple moved to Boston so that he could attend Harvard Business School
and Harvard Law School
. Slowed down by parenthood, she later finished her undergraduate work (for which she was a semester and half's worth of credits short) by taking night courses at Harvard Extension School
, from which she graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts
degree with a concentration in French language
.
A stay-at-home mom, Romney raised the family's five boys (born between 1970 and 1981) and taught early morning scripture classes to them and other children while her husband pursued his career, first in business, then in politics. Her personality as a political wife was viewed as superficial and was a detrimental factor in her husband's eventually losing effort in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
.
. Mitt Romney described watching her fail a series of neurological tests as the worst day of his life. He later said: "I couldn't operate without Ann. We're a partnership. We've always been a partnership so her being healthy and our being able to be together is essential." She initially experienced a period of severe difficulty with the disease, and later said: "I was very sick in 1998 when I was diagnosed. I was pretty desperate, pretty frightened and very, very sick. It was tough at the beginning, just to think, this is how I'm going to feel for the rest of my life." Since then, a mixture of mainstream and alternative treatments has given her a lifestyle mostly without limitations. She initially used corticosteroid
s, including intravenously, and credited them with helping stop the progression of the disease. She then dropped them and other medications due to counterproductive side effects
. She has partaken of reflexology
, acupuncture
, and craniosacral therapy
, and has said, "There is huge merit in both Eastern and Western medicine, and I've taken a little bit from both." She is a board member for the New England chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
, and has been given the MS Society's Annual Hope Award.
Romney is an avid equestrian
, crediting her renewed involvement in it while in Park City, Utah
(where the couple had built a vacation home and where they lived when he was in charge of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games) for much of her recovery after her multiple sclerosis diagnosis and for her continued ability to deal with the disease. She has received recognition in dressage
as an adult amateur at the national level, including earning her 2006 Gold Medal and 2005 Silver Medal at the Grand Prix level from the United States Dressage Federation
. She also sometimes competes in professional dressage events and has broken the 60% level at Grand Prix. Romney works with California trainer Jan Ebling, who schools her and her horses in dressage and works with her importing new stock from Europe. The pair qualified for the Pan-Am games in 2004. By 2011, the horses she owned in California were valued at more than $250,000.
, Romney became First Lady
of Massachusetts, a position she held through January 2007. In that role, she generally kept a low public profile; in 2006, The Boston Globe
characterized her as "largely invisible" within the state (although by then she was becoming more visible outside the state, due to national appearances in connection with her husband's possible presidential campaign).
While Massachusetts First Lady, she was active in teenage pregnancy
prevention efforts. In 2004, she said she was in favor of stem cell research as long as it was done "morally and ethically". One of her rare public appearances at the Massachusetts State House
came in 2004 when she lobbied the legislature to raise awareness about multiple sclerosis.
In 2005, the governor appointed his wife as head of a new special office whose purpose was to help the state's faith-based groups gain more federal monies in association with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
. This came after the state had seen its share of faith-based grants decline over the preceding three years. In this unpaid Governor's Liaison position, Ann Romney was termed a "dynamo" by Jim Towey
, director of the White House office.
She has been involved in a number of children's charities, including being director of the inner city
-oriented Best Friends. She worked extensively with the Ten Point Coalition in Boston and with other groups that promoted better safety and opportunities for urban youths. She was given the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from Salt Lake City-based Operation Kids
. She has also served as a board member for the United Way of America and helped found United Way Faith and Action.
At the conclusion of her time as Massachusetts First Lady, Romney said that the role "doesn't need to change your life at all. I think it's an opportunity for service and an opportunity to see people of all walks of life from across the Commonwealth.... It's an enriching part of your life [and one will] treasure it forever." Her health was still a primary factor in family decisions about her husband's career, and Mitt said in 2005 that if her multiple sclerosis flared up, "I wouldn't be involved in politics anymore; that would be over."
Ann Romney was an active participant in her husband's 2008 presidential campaign
. One past issue that arose involving her was her donation of $150 to Planned Parenthood
in 1994. By late 2007, she had become an integral part of his campaign, and was doing more trips and appearances on her own, despite the risk that added stress would aggravate her condition.
Her political message was often mixed with discussions of her family, her recipes, or managing her affliction; a ghost-written autobiography, Faith in the Family, was also in the offing (but has not materialized). Romney's television advertisements in the early primary states prominently featured her. By the close of 2007, she was the most visible of all the Republican candidates' wives in campaigning. Regarding having to witness criticism of her husband, she later acknowledged that she sometimes wanted to "come out of my seat and clock somebody [but] you learn to just take a deep breath."
In May 2008, several months after the campaign ended unsuccessfully, she shared with her husband the Canterbury Medal from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
, for "refus[ing] to compromise their principles and faith" during the campaign.
, and had the precancerous lump removed via lumpectomy
; she subsequently underwent radiation therapy
. Her prognosis from this condition was excellent, and she later reflected that "I was really lucky" to have caught it so early. President-elect Barack Obama
was among the well-wishers who called her.
In June 2009, due to her husband's request, Ann Romney became the first spouse to be included in the official Massachusetts State House
gubernatorial portrait.
For many years couple's primary residence was in Belmont, Massachusetts
, but this and the Utah home were sold in 2009. They reside in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire
, along Lake Winnipesaukee
, and at an oceanfront home in La Jolla, San Diego, California
, that they had bought the year before. Both locations were near some of the Romneys' grandchildren, who by 2010 numbered fourteen, and the La Jolla location is near where she rides horses and is well-situated for her multiple sclerosis therapies and for recovering from her precancer treatments.
, Romney said in March 2010 that this time the process would hold no surprises, and that if he decided in favor of doing it, "I’m up to saying, go storm the castle, sweetie." Once the campaign began, she stumped for her husband in early primary states and criticized the record and ideological direction of the Obama administration. As part of trying to lighten her husband's image, she sometimes participated in comic setup routines with him. Romney said that if she became First Lady of the United States
, she would seek to work with at-risk youths.
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politician Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
. From 2003 to 2007 she was First Lady
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
She was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,869...
and attended the private Kingswood School there, where she dated Mitt Romney. Influenced by their relationship, she converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1966. She began attending Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
, then married Mitt Romney in 1969. The couple have five children, born between 1970 and 1981. She completed her undergraduate education at Harvard Extension School
Harvard Extension School
Harvard University Extension School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of the thirteen degree-granting schools of Harvard University and is part of the Division of Continuing Education.-Origins:...
with a bachelor's degree in 1975.
In 1998, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
. A mixture of mainstream and alternative treatments has given her a lifestyle mostly without limitations. She found equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
activities to be therapeutic and has become an avid participant in the sport, receiving recognition in dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...
as an adult amateur at the national level and competing professionally in Grand Prix as well. While serving as Massachusetts First Lady, she was the governor's liaison for federal faith-based initiatives. She has been involved in a number of children's charities, including Operation Kids
Operation Kids
Operation Kids is a public 501 nonprofit organizationfounded in 1999 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Operation Kids provides customized philanthropic services at no cost to donors seeking to give money to children's organizations....
. She was an active participant in her husband's 2008 presidential run
Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2008
Mitt Romney was a Republican Party primary candidate in the 2008 United States presidential election. On January 3, 2007, two days before he stepped down as governor of Massachusetts, Romney filed to form a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission...
, where she became the most visible of all the Republican candidates' wives in campaigning, and is campaigning again during his 2012 presidential bid
United States presidential election, 2012
The United States presidential election of 2012 is the next United States presidential election, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United...
.
Early life
Born Ann Lois Davies, she was raised in Bloomfield Hills, MichiganBloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,869...
, by parents Edward R. Davies and Lois Davies. Her father, originally from Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, was a self-made businessman who became president of Jered Industries, a maker of heavy machinery for marine use; he also was mayor of Bloomfield Hills. Raised in the Welsh Congregationalists, he had become strongly opposed to all organized religion, although on her request the family very occasionally attended church, and she nominally identified as an Episcopalian.
Ann Davies knew of Mitt Romney since elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
. She went to the private Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, which was the sister school to the all-boys Cranbrook School that he attended. The two were re-introduced and began dating in March 1965; they informally agreed to marriage after his senior prom
Senior Prom
Senior Prom is a still-classified United States Air Force program to develop a stealth unmanned aerial vehicle for reconnaissance purposes , designed to be launched from a Lockheed DC-130, B-52 Stratofortress, or B-1 Lancer.-Origin and development:The program began in the late 1970s after the...
in June 1965.
While he was attending Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
for a year and then was away starting two-and-a-half years of Mormon missionary duty
Missionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, she decided on her own to convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during 1966. In doing so she accepted the guidance of Mitt's father George Romney
George W. Romney
George Wilcken Romney was an American businessman and Republican Party politician. He was chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd Governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1969 to 1973...
, the Governor of Michigan
Governor of Michigan
The Governor of Michigan is the chief executive of the U.S. State of Michigan. The current Governor is Rick Snyder, a member of the Republican Party.-Gubernatorial elections and term of office:...
. She graduated from high school in 1967 and began attending Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
(BYU). She also spent a semester at the University of Grenoble in France during her freshman year. The Mormon missionary rules only allowed her two brief visits with Mitt and very rare telephone calls with him. While at BYU she dated and developed strong feelings for future business academic Kim S. Cameron
Kim S. Cameron
Kim Sterling Cameron is the William Russell Kelly Professor of Management and Organizations at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and previously has served on the faculty of Brigham Young University–Idaho , the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Brigham Young University, and...
, while Mitt implored her to wait for his return.
Marriage and children
Immediately after Romney's return from France in December 1968, the pair reconnected and agreed to get married as soon as possible. Ann Davies and Mitt Romney were married by a church elder in a civil ceremony on March 21, 1969, at her Bloomfield Hills home, with a reception afterward at a local country club. The following day the couple flew to Utah for a wedding ceremony inside the Salt Lake TempleSalt Lake Temple
The Salt Lake Temple is the largest and best-known of more than 130 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the sixth temple built by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth operating temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo,...
; her family could not attend since they were non-Mormons, but were present at a subsequent wedding breakfast held for them across the street.
The couple's first son was born in 1970 while both were undergraduates at Brigham Young, living in a $75-a-month basement apartment
Basement apartment
A basement apartment is an apartment located below street level, underneath another structure—usually an apartment building, but possibly a house or a business. Rent in basement apartments is usually much lower than it is in above-ground units, due to a number of deficiencies common to basement...
. After he graduated, the couple moved to Boston so that he could attend Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
and Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
. Slowed down by parenthood, she later finished her undergraduate work (for which she was a semester and half's worth of credits short) by taking night courses at Harvard Extension School
Harvard Extension School
Harvard University Extension School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of the thirteen degree-granting schools of Harvard University and is part of the Division of Continuing Education.-Origins:...
, from which she graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree with a concentration in French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
A stay-at-home mom, Romney raised the family's five boys (born between 1970 and 1981) and taught early morning scripture classes to them and other children while her husband pursued his career, first in business, then in politics. Her personality as a political wife was viewed as superficial and was a detrimental factor in her husband's eventually losing effort in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1994
The 1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy won re-election.- Candidates :* Mitt Romney, CEO of Bain Capital and son of former Michigan Governor George W...
.
Multiple sclerosis and riding
During 1997, Ann Romney began experiencing severe numbness, fatigue, and other symptoms, and just before Thanksgiving in 1998, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosisMultiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
. Mitt Romney described watching her fail a series of neurological tests as the worst day of his life. He later said: "I couldn't operate without Ann. We're a partnership. We've always been a partnership so her being healthy and our being able to be together is essential." She initially experienced a period of severe difficulty with the disease, and later said: "I was very sick in 1998 when I was diagnosed. I was pretty desperate, pretty frightened and very, very sick. It was tough at the beginning, just to think, this is how I'm going to feel for the rest of my life." Since then, a mixture of mainstream and alternative treatments has given her a lifestyle mostly without limitations. She initially used corticosteroid
Corticosteroid
Corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex. Corticosteroids are involved in a wide range of physiologic systems such as stress response, immune response and regulation of inflammation, carbohydrate metabolism, protein catabolism, blood electrolyte...
s, including intravenously, and credited them with helping stop the progression of the disease. She then dropped them and other medications due to counterproductive side effects
Adverse effect (medicine)
In medicine, an adverse effect is a harmful and undesired effect resulting from a medication or other intervention such as surgery.An adverse effect may be termed a "side effect", when judged to be secondary to a main or therapeutic effect. If it results from an unsuitable or incorrect dosage or...
. She has partaken of reflexology
Reflexology
Reflexology, or zone therapy, is an alternative medicine involving the physical act of applying pressure to the feet, hands, or ears with specific thumb, finger, and hand techniques without the use of oil or lotion...
, acupuncture
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of solid, generally thin needles in the body....
, and craniosacral therapy
Craniosacral therapy
Craniosacral therapy is an alternative medicine therapy used by osteopaths, massage therapists, naturopaths, and chiropractors. A craniosacral therapy session involves the therapist placing their hands on the patient, which allows them to "tune into the craniosacral rhythm"...
, and has said, "There is huge merit in both Eastern and Western medicine, and I've taken a little bit from both." She is a board member for the New England chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a United States-based non-profit organization, and its network of chapters nationwide promote research, educate, advocate on issues relating to multiple sclerosis, and organize a wide range of programs, including support for the newly diagnosed and those...
, and has been given the MS Society's Annual Hope Award.
Romney is an avid equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
, crediting her renewed involvement in it while in Park City, Utah
Park City, Utah
Park City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
(where the couple had built a vacation home and where they lived when he was in charge of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games) for much of her recovery after her multiple sclerosis diagnosis and for her continued ability to deal with the disease. She has received recognition in dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...
as an adult amateur at the national level, including earning her 2006 Gold Medal and 2005 Silver Medal at the Grand Prix level from the United States Dressage Federation
United States Dressage Federation
The United States Dressage Federation, or the USDF, is the national membership federation for the equestrian sport of dressage. Running under the USEF, the Federation is committed to education, recognition of achievement and promotion of dressage in the United States.Founded in 1973, the USDF now...
. She also sometimes competes in professional dressage events and has broken the 60% level at Grand Prix. Romney works with California trainer Jan Ebling, who schools her and her horses in dressage and works with her importing new stock from Europe. The pair qualified for the Pan-Am games in 2004. By 2011, the horses she owned in California were valued at more than $250,000.
First Lady of Massachusetts and charitable work
In January 2003, following her husband's successful campaign in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial electionMassachusetts gubernatorial election, 2002
The Massachusetts gubernatorial election of 2002 was held on November 5, 2002. Businessman Mitt Romney was elected to a four-year term, to be served from January 2, 2003 until January 4, 2007. Every four years, Massachusetts holds state-wide elections for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney...
, Romney became First Lady
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
of Massachusetts, a position she held through January 2007. In that role, she generally kept a low public profile; in 2006, The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
characterized her as "largely invisible" within the state (although by then she was becoming more visible outside the state, due to national appearances in connection with her husband's possible presidential campaign).
While Massachusetts First Lady, she was active in teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy of a female under the age of 20 when the pregnancy ends. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy...
prevention efforts. In 2004, she said she was in favor of stem cell research as long as it was done "morally and ethically". One of her rare public appearances at the Massachusetts State House
Massachusetts State House
The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the "New" State House, is the state capitol and house of government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is located in Boston in the neighborhood Beacon Hill...
came in 2004 when she lobbied the legislature to raise awareness about multiple sclerosis.
In 2005, the governor appointed his wife as head of a new special office whose purpose was to help the state's faith-based groups gain more federal monies in association with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, formerly the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is an office within the White House Office that is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States.-Under George W. Bush:OFBCI was...
. This came after the state had seen its share of faith-based grants decline over the preceding three years. In this unpaid Governor's Liaison position, Ann Romney was termed a "dynamo" by Jim Towey
Jim Towey
Jim Towey served as Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and as Assistant to President George W. Bush from 2002 to May 2006. He served as president of Saint Vincent College, a small Catholic university in Latrobe, Pennsylvania from 2006 until stepping down on...
, director of the White House office.
She has been involved in a number of children's charities, including being director of the inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
-oriented Best Friends. She worked extensively with the Ten Point Coalition in Boston and with other groups that promoted better safety and opportunities for urban youths. She was given the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from Salt Lake City-based Operation Kids
Operation Kids
Operation Kids is a public 501 nonprofit organizationfounded in 1999 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Operation Kids provides customized philanthropic services at no cost to donors seeking to give money to children's organizations....
. She has also served as a board member for the United Way of America and helped found United Way Faith and Action.
At the conclusion of her time as Massachusetts First Lady, Romney said that the role "doesn't need to change your life at all. I think it's an opportunity for service and an opportunity to see people of all walks of life from across the Commonwealth.... It's an enriching part of your life [and one will] treasure it forever." Her health was still a primary factor in family decisions about her husband's career, and Mitt said in 2005 that if her multiple sclerosis flared up, "I wouldn't be involved in politics anymore; that would be over."
2008 campaign
Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2008
Mitt Romney was a Republican Party primary candidate in the 2008 United States presidential election. On January 3, 2007, two days before he stepped down as governor of Massachusetts, Romney filed to form a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission...
. One past issue that arose involving her was her donation of $150 to Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...
in 1994. By late 2007, she had become an integral part of his campaign, and was doing more trips and appearances on her own, despite the risk that added stress would aggravate her condition.
Her political message was often mixed with discussions of her family, her recipes, or managing her affliction; a ghost-written autobiography, Faith in the Family, was also in the offing (but has not materialized). Romney's television advertisements in the early primary states prominently featured her. By the close of 2007, she was the most visible of all the Republican candidates' wives in campaigning. Regarding having to witness criticism of her husband, she later acknowledged that she sometimes wanted to "come out of my seat and clock somebody [but] you learn to just take a deep breath."
In May 2008, several months after the campaign ended unsuccessfully, she shared with her husband the Canterbury Medal from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC that describes itself as "a non-profit, public interest law firm defending the freedom of religion of people of all faiths." The Becket Fund operates in three arenas: in the courts of law , in the court of...
, for "refus[ing] to compromise their principles and faith" during the campaign.
Between campaigns
In late 2008, Romney was diagnosed with mammary ductal carcinoma in situIn situ
In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...
, and had the precancerous lump removed via lumpectomy
Lumpectomy
Lumpectomy is a common surgical procedure designed to remove a discrete lump, usually a benign tumor or breast cancer, from an affected man or woman's breast...
; she subsequently underwent radiation therapy
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy , radiation oncology, or radiotherapy , sometimes abbreviated to XRT or DXT, is the medical use of ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells.Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control...
. Her prognosis from this condition was excellent, and she later reflected that "I was really lucky" to have caught it so early. President-elect Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
was among the well-wishers who called her.
In June 2009, due to her husband's request, Ann Romney became the first spouse to be included in the official Massachusetts State House
Massachusetts State House
The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the "New" State House, is the state capitol and house of government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is located in Boston in the neighborhood Beacon Hill...
gubernatorial portrait.
For many years couple's primary residence was in Belmont, Massachusetts
Belmont, Massachusetts
Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census.- History :Belmont was founded on March 18, 1859 by former citizens of, and land from the bordering towns of Watertown, to the south; Waltham, to the west; and Arlington, then...
, but this and the Utah home were sold in 2009. They reside in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire
Wolfeboro, New Hampshire
Wolfeboro is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,269 at the 2010 census. A venerable resort area situated beside Lake Winnipesaukee, Wolfeboro includes the village of Wolfeboro Falls...
, along Lake Winnipesaukee
Lake Winnipesaukee
Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is approximately long and from wide , covering — when Paugus Bay is included—with a maximum depth of ....
, and at an oceanfront home in La Jolla, San Diego, California
La Jolla, San Diego, California
La Jolla is an affluent, hilly seaside resort community, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California within the northern city limits of San Diego. La Jolla had the highest home prices in the nation in 2008 and 2009; the average price of a standardized...
, that they had bought the year before. Both locations were near some of the Romneys' grandchildren, who by 2010 numbered fourteen, and the La Jolla location is near where she rides horses and is well-situated for her multiple sclerosis therapies and for recovering from her precancer treatments.
2012 campaign
Regarding another possible run for office by her husband in the 2012 presidential electionUnited States presidential election, 2012
The United States presidential election of 2012 is the next United States presidential election, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United...
, Romney said in March 2010 that this time the process would hold no surprises, and that if he decided in favor of doing it, "I’m up to saying, go storm the castle, sweetie." Once the campaign began, she stumped for her husband in early primary states and criticized the record and ideological direction of the Obama administration. As part of trying to lighten her husband's image, she sometimes participated in comic setup routines with him. Romney said that if she became First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
, she would seek to work with at-risk youths.