Posted on 05/09/2005 8:50:01 PM PDT by Borges
ATLANTA (AP) - Betty Shingler Talmadge, ex-wife of the late Democratic Sen. Herman E. Talmadge, died Saturday following a long illness. She was 81.
Talmadge was also a cookbook writer who opened her Jonesboro home as a restaurant. Called Lovejoy Plantation, the home was site of elaborate parties for politicians and reporters close to the Talmadge family, a longtime political force in Georgia. Talmadge claimed the home was an inspiration for Margaret Mitchell when she wrote "Gone With The Wind."
While a U.S. senator's wife, Betty Talmadge was a prominent hostess and socialite in Washington. She was a frequent bridge partner of Lady Bird Johnson, who also visited her at Lovejoy Plantation. Talmadge also hosted luncheons for Pat Nixon and Judy Agnew, the wives of President Richard M. Nixon and vice president Spiro T. Agnew.
Talmadge co-wrote the cookbook "How to Cook a Pig and other Back-to-the-farm Recipes," published in 1977.
She later made a run for her own political career. In 1978, Talmadge lost a race for the Democratic nomination for Congress from the 6th District. Newt Gingrich, a Republican, eventually won the seat.
The same year she was divorced from Herman Talmadge, then a fourth-term senator. She never remarried. Her husband died in 2002.
Can't help but picture Paula Dean when reading this.
May she rest in peace.
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