Marvella Bayh

Marvella Belle Hern Bayh (February 14, 1933 – April 24, 1979) was the wife of former Indiana Senator Birch Bayh, the mother of former Indiana Senator Birch Evans Bayh III (Evan), and a national spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society. Life Bayh was born in the Garfield County, Oklahoma, town of Lahoma, and was the daughter of Bernett E. (née Monson) and Delbert Murphy Hern. Her ancestry included Norwegian, German, and English. (Other sources say that she was born in Enid, Oklahoma.) She grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, was elected to the top position in Oklahoma Girls State and president of Girls Nation, and attended Oklahoma State University. In 1951, she defeated her future husband in a national "outstanding young orator" competition sponsored by the National Farm Bureau. She completed her degree in education at Indiana University in 1960. She married Birch Bayh in August 1952 and moved to Indiana. When he decided to run first for the Indiana House of Representatives in 1954 and then for the US Senate in 1962 she began her career as a political wife. Former senator Bill Bradley described her as "a valuable and active half of the Bayh political team."Bayh suffered from a variety of health problems as the result of a car accident shortly after her marriage. Despite recurring back problems and double vision, Bayh remained deeply involved in the Washington political and social scene. She and her husband also survived a plane crash in 1964 that killed two people and critically injured Senator Ted Kennedy. The Bayhs were close friends with Senator Kennedy and his wife Joan Kennedy, as well as President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy. As an Oklahoman, Bayh also formed warm and close relationships with President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson.