- Maureen Reagan
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Maureen Reagan Born Maureen Elizabeth Reagan
January 4, 1941
Los Angeles, CaliforniaDied August 8, 2001 (aged 60)
Granite Bay, CaliforniaSpouse John Filippone (m. 1961–1962)
David Sills (m. 1964–1967)
Dennis C. Revell (m. 1981–2001)Parents Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
Jane Wyman (1917-2007)Maureen Elizabeth Reagan (January 4, 1941 – August 8, 2001) was the first child and elder daughter of former President Ronald Reagan and his first wife, Jane Wyman.[1] Her brother Michael Reagan was born 1945 and adopted by the Reagans shortly thereafter. Their sister Christine was born in 1947 and died a day later.[1] She also had two siblings from her father's second marriage to Nancy Davis: Patti Davis and Ron Reagan.
Here Robert Urich, Maureen Reagan, and Jack Hogan, pose for a publicity photo for the TV show Vector (1974)
Contents
Acting career
Reagan pursued a career in acting in her youth, appearing in films such as Kissin' Cousins (1964) with Elvis Presley.[2]
Marriages
She was married three times:
- John Filippone, a policeman; they were married in 1961 and divorced in 1962.
- David G. Sills, a lawyer and Marine Corps officer; they married on 28 February 1964 and divorced in 1967.
- Dennis C. Revell, whom she married in 25 April 1981.[3] She and Revell had one daughter, (Margaret) Rita Mirembe Revell, who was born in Uganda.[4][5][6][7] The Revells became her guardians in 1994, and they adopted her in 2001.[8]
Political activities
Reagan was involved with the Republican Party and worked as a political activist, radio talk show host, commentator and health care advocate. Her most active political years were in the 1980s, during her father's presidency, when she was a member of the California World Trade Commission, chairwoman of the United States delegation to the United Nations' Decade for Women Conference in Kenya, in 1985; co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, and chairwoman of the Republican Women's Political Action League.
She was the first daughter of a president to run for political office, [9] but both of her attempts at election to a public office ended in defeat. She ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate from California in 1982, and in 1992 for California's 36th congressional district.[10]
Although they maintained a united front, Maureen Reagan differed from her father on several key issues. Although reared Roman Catholic following her mother's conversion, she was pro-choice on abortion.[11] She also believed that Oliver North should have been court-martialed.[12]
After her father announced his diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in 1994, Maureen Reagan became a member of the Alzheimer's Association board of directors and served as the group’s spokeswoman. During her hospitalization for melanoma cancer, Maureen was only floors away from her father, who had suffered a severe fall.[13]
Reagan served on the Board of Trustees of her father's alma mater, Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois from March 2000 until her death. On May 9, 2000, she was the speaker at the dedication of the Ronald Reagan Peace Garden on campus. The Reagan Peace Garden recognized her father's contribution to the end of the Cold War. It had been raining all day during several other speeches, but when she stepped to the lectern the sun broke through. She opened her remarks to the crowd of more than 1,000 by saying, "the sun always shines on Ronald Reagan."
Death
Maureen Reagan died in Granite Bay, California, on August 8, 2001, aged 60, from melanoma.
Reagan volunteered with actor David Hyde Pierce, of TV's Frasier, at the Alzheimer’s Association. At Maureen's funeral on August 19, 2001, Pierce spoke to the gathering at Cathedral of Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, California and recalled his friend's tireless devotion to fighting the mind-robbing illness. "When she was given lemons, she did not make lemonade. She took the lemons, threw them back and said, 'Oh, no you don't.'"[14]
References
- ^ a b "Biography". Oliver Del Signore. http://www.jane-wyman.com/biography.html. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
- ^ "Maureen Reagan". The Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0713975/. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
- ^ "Daughter of President Is Married in California". New York Times. April 25, 1981. http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/26/us/6116.html?scp=4&sq=Maureen+Reagan&st=nyt. Retrieved 2011-01-17.
- ^ United States. Congress. House .... "For the relief of Rita Mirembe Revell (a.k.a. Margaret Rita Mirembe)". Open Library. http://openlibrary.org/books/OL17718121M/For_the_relief_of_Rita_Mirembe_Revell_%28a.k.a._Margaret_Rita_Mirembe%29. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
- ^ Congressional Record - Google Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=qpoBclbmhZ4C&pg=PA13468&lpg=PA13468&dq=rita+mirembe+revell#v=onepage&q=rita%20mirembe%20revell&f=false. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
- ^ "Statement by the Press Secretary". Georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. 2001-07-19. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/07/20010718-4.html. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
- ^ "Mourning Maureen Reagan | Jet | Find Articles at BNET". Findarticles.com. 2001-09-03. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_12_100/ai_77931198/. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
- ^ "Mourning Maureen Reagan". Jet (Johnson Publishing Company) 100 (12): 18. Sep 3, 2001. ISSN 0021-5996. http://books.google.com/books?id=9rQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18.
- ^ Doug Wead, All the Presidents' Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Families. Atria Books (2003). p. 155.
- ^ Foerstel, Karen; Herbert N. Foerstel (1996). "The Decade of the Woman: An Uncertain Promise". Climbing the Hill: Gender Conflict in Congress. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 77–78. ISBN 0275949141, 9780275949143.
- ^ Foerstel 1996, p. 77.
- ^ Reagan, Maureen (2001). "Iran-Contra". First Father, First Daughter: A Memoir. Little, Brown and Company. p. 374. ISBN 0316736368, 9780316736367.
- ^ "Family Misfortune". People (magazine). 2001-01-29. Vol. 55 No. 4. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20133520,00.html. Retrieved 2009-01-23. "A Fall Lands Ronald Reagan in the Same Hospital as His Cancer-Stricken Daughter"
- ^ "Reagan's Daughter Mourned". nydailynews.com. 2001-08-19. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2001/08/19/2001-08-19_reagan_s_daughter_mourned.html. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
External links
Ronald Reagan February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004Life 
Presidency Domestic policy · Economic policy · Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 · Tax Reform Act of 1986 · Assassination attempt · Strategic Defense Initiative · Foreign policy · Reagan Doctrine · Cold War: first term, second term · Iran–Contra · Judicial appointmentsSpeeches Books Elections Family Nancy Davis Reagan (wife) · Jane Wyman (first wife) · Maureen Reagan Revell (daughter) · Michael Edward Reagan (son) · Patricia Reagan Davis (daughter) · Ronald Prescott "Ron" Reagan (son) · John "Jack" Reagan (father) · Nelle Wilson Reagan (mother) · Neil Reagan (brother)Categories:- 1941 births
- 2001 deaths
- American health activists
- American film actors
- Actors from California
- American people of Irish descent
- American people of Scottish descent
- American people of English descent
- California Republicans
- Children of Presidents of the United States
- People from the Greater Los Angeles Area
- People from Sacramento, California
- Reagan family
- Deaths from skin cancer
- Cancer deaths in California
- Infectious disease deaths in California
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