Friday Mieography

You could call this woman by many names.

Her birth name was Lucille Wood Smith. She was born on Halloween, btw.

Her name was changed, when she was an infant to Frances Octavia Smith.

She would go on to take the stage name Dale Evans.....

Whatever you want to call her, she had an interesting life.

She was married at age fourteen, and bore her first child at fifteen. She was divorced by seventeen, and remarried, that same year. That marriage also failed, and she married another. It also did not go well. Divorce number three.

Then, she met, and married Roy Rogers. It was his THIRD marriage. They were married for fifty-one years; she helped raise the three children he'd had with his second wife, whom had passed away.

Her singing career started at a radio station where she worked as a secretary. She sang jazz, swing, and big band music. She eventually landed a screen test, and was contracted with 20th. Century Fox. The studio didn't want her known as a single mother, so they touted her as the unmarried supporter of her teenaged brother, (whom was actually her son, Tommy). It wasn't until she was married to Roy that she was able to clear up the misconception.

She and Roy had a child, Robin, who was born with Down's Syndrome. During this era, parents of Down's kids were encouraged to place their children into institutions, Roy and Dale would have none of that, they took Robin home, instead. Sadly, she died, just before her second birthday. Robin inspired Dale to write her bestseller, "Angel Unaware". She wanted to change people's public perceptions of of developmentally disabled children. There is a training center in in Texas now named after her. She and Roy went on to adopt two more children after Robin died.

She also had a very successful television career with Roy, co- starring in The Roy Rogers show, where she rode her trusty horse, Buttermilk. Dale wrote the song "Happy Trails".

She is also known for being very public, and outspoken about her Christianity.

During her career, she was in more than thirty films, and wrote over two hundred songs. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and is in numerous Hall's of Fame. She died of Congestive Heart Failure two and a half years after Roy died.