Dale Evans Recovering After Suffering Moderate Heart Attack

Dale Evans, 79-year-old wife and show-business partner of singing cowboy Roy Rogers, was recovering Wednesday from a heart attack, her son said.

Evans complained of chest pains early Sunday and her husband drove her to St. Mary Desert Valley Hospital, said Roy (Dusty) Rogers Jr. Doctors determined she had suffered a moderate heart attack, he said.

“It was a real shocker to us,” he said, noting that although his mother was in intensive care, she was doing much better and able to sit up in bed. “She’s in great spirits,” he said.

Evans, who composed the couple’s theme song, “Happy Trails,” and the gospel standard, “The Bible Tells Me So,” appeared with her husband in Western movies. They performed together on television in the 1950s and ‘60s on “The Roy Rogers Show” and “The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show.”

From 1986-89 the couple hosted “Happy Trails Theatre” on cable TV’s The Nashville Network, a program of Rogers’ movies and the couple’s recollections.

The couple now live in the Mojave Desert near their Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum, about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles.