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Ann Richards
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Ann Richards was a better singer than she was often rated but her career fell short of its potential. She was self-taught on piano and started taking singing lessons when she was ten. Richards began singing professionally in the San Francisco Bay area and had a short stint with Charlie Barnet. Richards joined Stan Kenton's band for a few months in 1955; they were married and she was a part-time singer throughout their marriage (which lasted until 1961). When their marriage ended (a breakup that she never really recovered from), Richards recorded a few pleasing and swinging albums on her own for Capitol, Atco and Vee Jay; ... Richards' life became aimless, and she committed suicide at age 46. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
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When Ann Richards was voted in as Texas State Treasurer, she was the first woman in fifty years to be elected to state office in the Lone Star State. She served as Governor from 1990-1994. Born in Waco, she graduated from Baylor University and the University of Texas. Though she started out as a junior high school teacher, she has been immersed in politics for most of her life, even as a mother of four and grandmother of six. Richards served four years as Chair of the Democratic National Committee.
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Ann Richards, Hillary Clinton – those women of that turbulent, transitional period of the 80’s into the 90’s – had it right. You can’t clean house and make it to “the dome” too. You can’t bake cookies and make it to the Senate. And that’s not just because there isn’t enough time. More profoundly, it’s because it just isn’t human to do all that. With all of our spouting off these days about the glorious variety of women’s Choice, there is one basic choice that we are not humanly able to make: we cannot choose what kind of people we are or what we are driven, drawn, destined to do.
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Bad news: Ann Richards, 72, has cancer of the esophagus, which the Associated Press reports kills 3,000 of the 3,300 American women diagnosed with it every year. The former governor of Texas will be treated at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of the best cancer hospitals in the world.
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Ann Richards ... lent her trademark voice and command of language to the screen. She narrated the popular and humorous documentary film "Barbecue: A Texas Love Story" for young Austin director Chris Elley, going as far as holding a slimy BBQ rib in front of her face for publicity photos. During the voice session, she even helped revise the script. In the audio booth, she pointed out a phrase in the original script that was too vague in her opinion by joking "What does that mean?! It doesn't mean anything. It sounds like something George Bush would say."
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Battling esophageal cancer for six months, Ann Richards died from complications of the disease on September 13, 2006, in Austin, Texas. She is survived by her four children from her marriage to David Richards and eight grandchildren. Shortly after her death, former president Bill Clinton escorted her casket to the Capitol where thousands came to pay their last respects to one of the greatest politicians in Texas history. Others, such as actress Lily Tomlin and newspaper columnist Liz Smith, spoke at her funeral and at her public memorial service.
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Ann Richards