Anita Thigpen Perry
| Anita Thigpen Perry | |
|---|---|
| First Lady of Texas | |
|
In role December 21, 2000 – January 20, 2015 |
|
| Governor | Rick Perry |
| Preceded by | Laura Bush |
| Succeeded by | Cecilia Abbott |
| Second Lady of Texas | |
|
In role January 19, 1999 – December 21, 2000 |
|
| Governor | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Gloria Bullock |
| Succeeded by | Sally Ratliff |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Mary Anita Thigpen May 5, 1952 Haskell, Texas, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Rick Perry (1982–present) |
| Children | Griffin, Sydney |
| Alma mater |
Texas Tech University, Lubbock West Texas A&M University University of Texas, San Antonio |
| Religion | Nondenominational Christianity |
Mary Anita Thigpen Perry (born May 5, 1952) was the longest-serving First Lady of Texas being in that role from 2000 to 2015. She is the wife of former Governor and current United States Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. As First Lady of Texas, she had been an active advocate for nursing and other health care issues. The Anita Thigpen Perry Endowment at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio focuses on nutrition, cardiovascular disease, health education, and early childhood development. In 2008, the Anita Thigpen Perry School of Nursing at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center was renamed in her honor.
Perry was born in Haskell, Texas. She is the daughter of family physician Joseph Eltidge Thigpen (1920-2013), a native of Bay Springs, Mississippi, and homemaker Beunis Ratliff Thigpen, originally from Haskell. Her parents met in Tyler, where Beunis was visiting relatives. Dr. Thigpen had a distinguished flight record in World War II and earned several medals, including the Bronze Star. He also flew his own plane and was known for making house calls long after the practice ceased to be the norm. Her paternal grandfather was also a doctor and also named Joseph Thigpen. She is named for a paternal aunt, Anita Thigpen Yelverton (1918-1999). She has three siblings: Joseph Thigpen (an attorney in Austin who is a former county attorney and former district attorney), Peggy Hairgrove, and Emily Solis. Like Rick, she is a graduate of Haskell High School. She spent her first year of college at Texas Tech University, but because they did not have a nursing program at the time, she switched to West Texas State University in Canyon, where she received a Bachelor's degree in nursing in 1974. She then obtained a Master of Science degree in nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She worked in the nursing profession for more than seventeen years, including surgery, pediatrics, intensive care, administration, and teaching and as a consultant. Although the Perry tax returns indicate she worked as a nurse and took in less than $8,000 a year between 1987 and 1990, upon Rick's election as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, she left nursing.
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