Lillian Marie Bounds (b. February 15 1900, Spalding, Idaho – d. December 16 1997, Los Angeles, California, aged 97) was the wife of Walt Disney from 1925 until his death in 1966. She later married John L. Truyens in 1969 and remained married to him until his death in 1981. Lillian and Walt Disney married in 1925 and had two daughters - Diane Marie Disney and Sharon Mae Disney, the latter of whom was an adoptee. She is aunt of Roy Edward Disney and grandmother to her grandchildren, Chris Miller, Joanna Miller, Tamara Scheer, Jennifer Miller-Goff, Walter Elias Disney Miller, Ronald Miller and Victoria Brown. In 1987, Lillian Disney pledged $50,000,000 USD towards the construction of a new home for the L.A. Philharmonic. After many delays, the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened in 2003, six years after her death. Her filmography includes work as an ink artist on the film Plane Crazy. She is credited with having named her husband's most famous character, Mickey Mouse, during a train trip from New York to California in 1928. Walt showed a drawing of the cartoon mouse to his wife and told her that he was going to name it "Mortimer Mouse". She replied that the name sounded "too sissified" and suggested "Mickey" instead.[1] In the 1990s, reflecting on her marriage of 41 years to Walt Disney, she said "We shared a wonderful, exciting life, and we loved every minute of it. He was a wonderful husband to me and wonderful and joyful father and grandfather". Lillian Disney suffered a stroke on December 15 1997, exactly 31 years after the death of Walt Disney. She died the following morning at her home, aged 97.
References
- ^ Walt Disney: Conversations (Conversations With Comic Artists Series) by Kathy Merlock Jackson with Walt Disney, ISBN 1-57806-713-8 page 120
