What You Didn't Know About Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri
By Allegra Hartley
Posted 11/15/06
- He was born on Jan. 10, 1950, in Niangua, Mo. He and his younger brother, Ron, were raised on a dairy farm near Springfield. The family moved six times by the time the boys were teenagers.
- He graduated from Southwest Baptist University in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in history. He earned a master's in history from Southwest Missouri State University in 1972.
- He volunteered his 1958 Ford pickup truck for John Ashcroft's unsuccessful 1972 campaign for Congress.
- Before his election to Congress in 1996, he spent time as a high school and college teacher, Missouri secretary of state, and president of Southwest Baptist University.
- He has three children and five grandchildren with his first wife, Roseann. He married his second wife, Abigail, in 2003. They adopted a baby boy from Russia in April.
- He lost his left kidney to cancer in 2002.
- His family is heavily involved in politics. His father was a state representative. His son Matt is the governor of Missouri. His son Andrew is a state lobbyist for a Missouri law firm. His daughter, Amy, is a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
- His wife is a lobbyist. She lobbied for Philip Morris until 2005; she currently lobbies for Kraft Foods.
- He keeps an anonymous bust in his office that dates to 1815. It is the only unidentified bust in the Capitol.
- He collects artifacts from American Indian Missouri tribes, which he plans to display at the Smithsonian Institution.
Sources:
Almanac of American Politics
Washington Post
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
New York Times
The Hill