July 23, 2007
Tammy Faye Messner, 1942-2007
While all of us were busy getting our weekend started, Tammy Faye Messner was quietly succumbing to the cancer she'd been bravely fighting – and at one time wrestled into submission – for 10 years. She died at home near Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday, and her ashes were interred on Saturday in a remote part of Kansas at the Kansas-Oklahoma border. She was 65. Larry King, who was asked by Tammy Faye's family to make the announcement on Saturday, said she had requested there be a party in Palm Springs after she died. "She wanted it to be a celebration," he said, which is typical of the vibrant not-quite-five-feet-tall dynamo who survived scandal and heartbreak as a TV evangelist to become a beloved pop-culture icon, all the while living an exemplar life according to the Lord's Prayer – especially that part about "as we forgive those who trespass against us." Of course, Tammy put it in secular terms: "If life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Last week, on her final television appearance, she told Larry King, “I want my funeral to be a real happy time. I want everybody laughing and remembering how crazy I was.”
At World of Wonder we're especially saddened by her death because, after working with her on two documentary series, The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Tammy Faye: Death Defying, we came to know and love her as the kind of person we should all aspire to be: honest, loving, forgiving, and a helluva broad. (Yes, to be more like Tammy, we'd even contemplate a sex change.) We think that by just knowing her, a little bit of what she was has rubbed off on all of us. Really, was there ever a finer, more fabulous human being? "When I was a little girl," she once said, "I used to pray, 'Dear God, please don't let my life be boring. I found that you have to be careful what you pray for."
Today, we're going to give the WOW Report over to Tammy Faye, posting (in no particular order) some of the clips we've archived over the years. Even though she wouldn't want you to cry, you're going to. And it's OK. We are.
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Comments
-- Dave | July 22, 2007 12:22 PM
Tammy Faye, bless her nutty soul, was a truly fantastic human being, an example for us all. If there exists a heaven in any form, it just got little bit brighter ... and a whole lot more fun!
Warmest thoughts to her family and close friends. They were lucky to have such a force in their lives, and I'm sure all the sadder for her passing.
Thanks WoW folks for celebrating her life today.
-- sparks | July 22, 2007 4:25 PM
I had the chance to pick her up at the airport and I was just shocked. I received the biggest hug and we chatted like we were friends for years.
I told her to take a nap and rest and she just
looked at me and told me "I'll just lean on you"
if I get really tired. I told her it would be my
pleasure to which she responsed, "God love you."
I'll miss her so much but at least she will not
be in pain any more. GOD LOVE YOU TAMMY!!!!
-- Eugene Rogers | July 22, 2007 4:42 PM
Her good nature, her jovial spirit was addictive,... and you're right Sparx, the example she set was/is unparalleled.
When you were in her presence, you sat up a little taller, and you felt a little better, and for days following, you just found it impossible to be petty or gossipy, You just, *WERE* a better person.
It's so cliche to say, "If there were more people like Tammy, the world would be a better place, " But it's simply, an absolute, FACT.
You just felt like you been with an angelic soul. I mean, 110% human, but so-so sacred, all at the same time.
We smile when we think about the B.B.Q. that must have been, in heaven Friday night. Hamburgers, Fries,.. and NO LEMON-AIDE IN SIGHT!!!!
We do find relief knowing your body has found peace. But, Tammy, we miss you already.
<3<3<3<3<3<3
-- Veroinca Billingsley | July 22, 2007 5:48 PM
I wanted to send a personal message to Tammy after seeing her on Larry KIng, but the last two days my computer was out. Now it is working and I find I am too late, that brave, wonderful woman has gone to the Lord without giving me a chance to tell her how proud I am of her for her courage and how inspiring she is. Rest peacefully in God's arms, Tammy
-- Mike | July 22, 2007 6:50 PM
how come i can't post here anymore?
-- wendy | July 22, 2007 8:55 PM
I have spent the last hour and a half watching all of the clips WoW has posted! THANK YOU!!!!! I feel as though I've lost a dear friend, yet we only met for 30 seconds back in the 90's. It was fun sharing in your clips...as I laughed and shed another tear for a true survivor!!!! Thank you for sharing the real Tammy Faye with the world. WoW is amazing.
-- Lisa Harrington | July 22, 2007 11:36 PM
I watch the Larry King Interview with Tammy Faye. I thought what a brave LADY, and she was a Lady. May God bless and keep her. May her family be happy that she was part of their lives. God be with you and bless you.
-- lilyan barry | July 23, 2007 2:37 PM
It is beacause of Tammy Faye Bakker(at the time) that I came to know the lord some 30 odd years ago. I was one of the first people to watch her on the puppet show she & Jim had, then the Jim & Tammy show.
I still have a letter that she wrote to me when I was going through a really tough time. She was so encouraging and uplifting. I have always loved her for that! She's singing once again in God's heavenly choir( and probably leading it!)
-- Anne Bulk | July 23, 2007 5:17 PM
I will never forget the time that Tammy had to say goodbye when her and the family were in Palm Springs and I still remember her singing to all of us the sun (son) will rise again. I did not know her personally but felt a strong connection to her. Tammy was your friend no matter what you were this includes: race, sexual orientation, etc... She loved you because you were you and I will miss her.
I love you Tammy, Jay and Tammy Sue!
-- Cary | July 23, 2007 10:37 PM
Tammy was a true inspiration. Her attitude towards people was totally non-bigoted. She really loved people. The world will miss her. But Jesus has her now.
-- Patty | July 24, 2007 12:59 PM
I was able to spend the last 2 years of my life helping her daughter take care of this wonderful lady. It was my previledge to have known this wonderful person.She was truely what you see is what you get. LOVE,LOVE,LOVE God Bless You Tam I truely love you!
-- Daina | July 27, 2007 4:00 PM
She was truly an inspiration!
She will be missed and remembered dearly.
Bless.