Rosalie Jean Willis worked as a waitress, but is best known as the first wife of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. In addition to the burden of being the wife of a monstrous man, she also had to endure the deaths of her three children before she could rest in peace.
Rosalie Jean Willis is Charles Manson’s first wife
Rosalie Jean Willis, as already mentioned, was the first wife of the American criminal Charles Manson. She was born on January 28, 1937 in the United States. Clarence Willis and Virginia McNich raised her as their daughter. Rosalie, the third of her parents’ four children, grew up completely normally.
She spent most of her childhood with her parents and siblings in Benwood, West Virginia. The 84-year-old had two older sisters, Amy and Eileen, and a brother, Clarence “Buster” Willis.
Unfortunately, neither his parents nor his siblings are still alive. Rosalie’s ethnicity was Caucasian and she was an American citizen.
Rosalie Jean Willis married Charles Manson when she was 15
On January 7, 1955, Rosalie Jean Willis married Charles Manson. Their marriage took place in a private ceremony at the Church of the Nazarene in the presence of close friends. and family. The most intriguing aspect is that Rosalie was only 15 when she married Manson, who would have been 20 at the time.
The former couple first met at a hospital where Willis worked as a waitress. Their meeting happened by chance when Charles, a part-time auto mechanic and car thief, had to move to Charleston, West Virginia, with his mother Kathleen Maddox. There, Maddox was friends with Rosalie’s father and thus laid the foundation for the infamous marriage.
The most fascinating fact, however, is that Willis married Manson even though he knew he was a thief. Her hope of changing him after marriage turned out to be an unattainable goal. She then filed for divorce in 1958, three years after her marriage, which was finalized that same year.
Her son with Manson committed suicide
Rosalie Jean Willis gave birth to Charles Manson Jr. in 1956 after three years of marriage to Charles. When Charles was sentenced to Terminal Island Prison in San Pedro, California, for smuggling a stolen car across the border, she was only three months pregnant.
While her then-husband was away, she cared for the child alone until her mother arrived. Willis married another man and moved to another town when their child grew up. His eldest son, on the other hand, could not overcome the stigma of being the son of a criminal.
Around the age of 37, he finally shot himself in the head.
After her divorce from Charles, she married twice
Rosalie was much more than Charles’ wife. After her divorce, she married twice. She married for the second time to a man named Jack White. Although she did not specify when she married Jack, the two were said to have had a good but short relationship. They divorced amicably in 1965.
Their marriage produced two children. Their first child, Jesse J. White, was born in 1958 and their second child was born in 1959.
Willis married Warren Howard “Jack” Handley for the third time after divorcing her second husband. They had a good relationship, but it wouldn’t last long. Things got even worse for her when she saw all her children die before her eyes.
Rosalie Jean Willis’ three children all died abnormally
It’s hard to imagine the torment Rosalie endured, but she did it. Rosalie witnessed the death of every child in her life. Besides the death of Charles Manson Jr., whom she renamed Jay White (after her second husband), her children from her second marriage also died.
The tragedy began in January 1971 with the death of his son Jed, aged 11. His death was reportedly caused by an accident in which his friend shot him in the stomach while he was playing.
Their second child, Jesse, was also found dead in his car at the age of 28. He and a friend were reportedly drinking at a bar in Houston, Texas, the night he died. His death was believed to be due to a drug overdose.
What happened to Rosalie Jean Willis? His death
Rosalie is no longer with us. According to Find a Grave, she died on August 21, 2009, almost eleven years after her third husband died in 1998.. She died of lung cancer. When she died, she was at home in Tucson, Arizona. Rosalie was then 71 years old. She was buried at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City, Clark County, Nevada.
Her first husband, Charles Manson, died on November 19, 2017, in Bakersfield, California, at the age of 83.