Marvella Bayh

Marvella Belle Hern Bayh (February 14, 1933 – April 24, 1979) was the first wife of former Indiana U.S. Senate member Birch Bayh, the mother of former Indiana U.S. Senate member Evan Bayh (Birch Evans Bayh III), and a national spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society.

Life Bayh was born in the village of Lahoma, Oklahoma, and was the daughter of Bernett E. (née Monson) and Delbert Murphy Hern. Her ancestry included Norwegian, German, and English. (Other sources say that she was born in Enid, Oklahoma.) and attended Oklahoma State University. sponsored by the National Farm Bureau. thumb Marvella with her husband Birch and son Evan during Birch's 1962 senate campaignBayh suffered from a variety of health problems as a result of a car accident shortly after her marriage. Despite recurring back problems and double vision, Bayh remained deeply involved in the Washington political and social scene. She and her husband also survived a plane crash in 1964 that killed two people and critically injured U.S. Senate member Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts.

The Bayhs were close friends with Senator Kennedy and his wife Joan Bennett Kennedy, as well as President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. As an Oklahoman, Bayh also formed warm and close relationships with President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson.

Bayh had a keen interest in current events and public affairs and was a skilled campaigner and public speaker. In 1967, President Johnson recognized her abilities and asked her to become the vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee—a job she turned down with great reluctance at the request of her husband's staff when he was launching his own Senate re-election campaign. Bayh later described his failure to intervene and support her wish to take the job as "totally selfish and insensitive" and said, "That was the worst mistake I ever made." became a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society. She wrote extensively about her experiences with cancer in her autobiography, Marvella: A Personal Journey. in Bethesda, Maryland.

Recognition Bayh's efforts in fighting cancer and spreading information about it led to her receiving the James Ewing Award from the American Society of Surgical Oncologists and the Hubert H. Humphrey Inspirational Award from the American Cancer Society's District of Columbia chapter.