NAMES IN THE NEWS : Governor’s Wife Expecting Baby
For the first time in almost a century, there will be the patter of little feet in the Mississippi governor’s mansion. Gov. Ray Mabus and his wife, Julie, are expecting their first child in July.
“I’m so excited I’ve been about to pop,” said grandmother-to-be Lucille Mabus of Ackerman.
The announcement is making this a special season at the 145-year-old mansion.
“I’ve never seen them light up so much,” said spokesman Lori Freeman. “The staff is happy. We feel like this is the best Christmas present ever.”
The 40-year-old governor said he doesn’t have his heart set on a Ray III or a Julie Jr. “I just want it to be a healthy child,” Mabus said Monday.
Elbert R. Hilliard, executive director of the state Department of Archives and History, said Monday that the only earlier reference to a baby being born to a sitting governor and his wife goes back to the turn of the century.
The governor and Julie Hines, 37, were married on Jan. 3, 1987, in Jackson.
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