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I don't know if Cornelia actually wrote this book herself, whether there was a ghostwriter, or maybe a mixture of the two. But I do know that on every page of the book, I could hear the charming, sincere, and loving voice that I heard back in 1969, telling the story, never rushed, never boastful, always thankful for what she had at any given point in time. There were tears in my eyes as I read the last sentence, knowing my journey with her was ending, wanting to hear that voice continue the story that had 33 more years to go.
Cornelia never once tried to make herself seem more important than she was, never tried to disguise her shortfalls, never tried to inflate her successes, never tried to hide the fact that her reach often exceeded her grasp but making it clear that she was always ready to pick herself up after a stumble.
From having known her in 1969, it was clear that she had the beauty, poise, and charm that could have led a lesser woman to think she was better than most other people. She was positioned to be a prima donna in every respect except one, her outlook on life, which determined that she would treat others as she would like to be treated.
Her honesty and humble spirit shown through on every page. She readily admitted that if she had known in advance how hard things would have been after the shooting, that she probably wouldn't have signed on to be Mrs. George Wallace. But having done so, she gave everything she had after the shooting to try to help keep hope alive for him and to give him some reason for continuing to fight. George Wallace's body and spirit were both decimated by the aftermath of the assassination attempt and it took years of loving care on her part, many times to the detriment of her own spirit, to bring some semblance of stabilization to George's life.
Cornelia was also frank in her belief that despite the leanings of her uncle, Governor James Folsom, that the southern way of life should be maintained, in other words, segregation. In some measure of poetic justice, she received the backlash of southern stubbornness when the sororities at the University of Alabama and elsewhere refused to accept her because of their perception that her uncle Jim was an integrationist. At one point she even made a speech at a Montgomery civic club to clarify her beliefs but to no avail with the unforgiving segregationists of the sorority set.
Cornelia was also up front about her interest in becoming Mrs. George Wallace. She tells how she unsuccessfully tried to get her brother to invite her along for dinner with George. She also relates how she persisted until she finally got George to notice her. But in her account, she and George bond over dinners at his house during a time in which he had become very withdrawn, coming together in a totally different fashion from that portrayed in the "George Wallace" TV movie, in which Cornelia uses off her beauty and charm to attract him. |
