Carroll Waller, widow of former Mississippi governor, dies at 87

In this Dec. 3, 2011, photograph, Carroll Waller, widow of Gov. Bill Waller receives condolences at the Capitol Rotunda where her husband lay in state. The former Mississippi first lady Waller, who led efforts to restore the Governor's Mansion when her husband was in office, died Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014 at age 87, after a lengthy bout with Alzheimer's disease. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Barbara Gauntt)
In this Dec. 3, 2011, photograph, Carroll Waller, widow of Gov. Bill Waller receives condolences at the Capitol Rotunda where her husband lay in state. The former Mississippi first lady Waller, who led efforts to restore the Governor's Mansion when her husband was in office, died Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014 at age 87, after a lengthy bout with Alzheimer's disease. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Barbara Gauntt)
In this Dec. 3, 2011, photograph, Carroll Waller, widow of Gov. Bill Waller receives condolences at the Capitol Rotunda where her husband lay in state. The former Mississippi first lady Waller, who led efforts to restore the Governor’s Mansion when her husband was in office, died Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014 at age 87, after a lengthy bout with Alzheimer’s disease. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Barbara Gauntt)

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — Former Mississippi first lady Carroll Waller, who led efforts to restore the Governor’s Mansion when her husband was in office, died Tuesday at age 87.

Her family said she died at Manhattan Nursing Home in Jackson after a lengthy bout with Alzheimer’s disease. The funeral is at 2 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Jackson.

Bill Waller Sr. was governor from 1972-76, serving as a Democrat but later campaigning for Republicans.

Carroll Waller and University of Mississippi historian David Sansing co-wrote “The History of the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion,” which helped raise money to restore the badly deteriorated structure and to add formal gardens around the home that had opened in 1842. The Wallers lived in the mansion only a few months after it reopened following the $2.7 million restoration.

The former governor was 85 when he died in November 2011. The couple had been married 61 years.

During a eulogy at Gov. Waller’s funeral, Sansing recalled that he had returned from teaching a night class in Oxford in the 1970s and his wife gave him a phone message: Bill Waller had called. The professor said he thought it was a joke by a student, because he had been praising the governor during lectures.

Nevertheless he returned the call, and the governor told Sansing the first lady wanted to work with him to write a history of the Governor’s Mansion. Sansing said the governor, in typical blunt fashion, asked: “‘Can you be down here first thing in the morning and get started?'”

The book was written, the mansion was restored and it was designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. The building had been in such bad shape, Sansing said, that some people wanted to raze it and use the prime downtown Jackson location for commercial development.

“Whenever you pass the Governor’s Mansion, remember that without Bill Waller and his lovely wife, Carroll, there might be a hotel on that historic site,” Sansing said.

Current Gov. Phil Bryant said he and his wife, Deborah, mourn Carroll Waller’s death.

“There’s a good possibility the Governor’s Mansion would not exist now, if not for her dedicated restoration work,” Bryant said in a written statement Tuesday. “She was a wonderful first lady and an example to all others who have followed her.”

Survivors include four sons, Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr., Robert O. Waller, Edward C. Waller and Donald E. Waller, all of Jackson; sisters Joy Overton Holmes of Madison, Mississippi, and Gloria Overton Martin of Madison, Florida; and 14 grandchildren.

Bill and Carroll Waller’s daughter, Gloria Joy Waller, died in 1981.

Carroll Waller, a McComb native, graduated from Mississippi College. She worked as an instructor at Belhaven College and a sales associate at a women’s formal wear shop in Jackson that was owned by her mother.

A family statement said Carroll Waller, as first lady, pushed for the state Department of Education to evaluate children for learning disabilities. She sponsored a Mississippi Library Commission bicentennial project in 1976 to gather books written and autographed by Mississippi authors for display at the Governor’s Mansion.

The family said she pushed for laws designating several state animals. A hybrid red rose called the Mississippi Rose was created at her request, and the hybrid Carroll Waller Camellia was created for her. The flowers are part of the landscape at the Governor’s Mansion.