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Lillian Marie Bounds (February 15, 1900, Spalding, Idaho – December 16, 1997, Los Angeles, California, aged 97) was the wife of Walt Disney from 1925 until his death in 1966. She later married John L. Truyens in 1969 and remained married to him until his death in 1981. Lillian was born in Spalding, Idaho. She grew up in Lapwai, Idaho, on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation where her father worked as a blacksmith and federal marshal. She had short brown hair, a slender body, and was thought to be very attractive. Lillian and Walt Disney married in 1925 in Idaho at her parents' house. She wore a beautiful dress which she had made herself. Her sisters recalled that she giggled nervously throughout the service. Walt's parents could not come to the wedding. She and Walt had two daughters - Diane Marie Disney and Sharon Mae Disney, the latter of whom was an adoptee. She was the aunt of Roy Edward Disney and had seven grandchildren, Chris Miller, Joanna Miller, Tamara Scheer, Jennifer Miller-Goff, Walter Elias Disney Miller, Ronald Miller and Victoria Brown.
In 1987, Lillian Disney pledged $50,000,000 towards the construction of a new home for the L.A. Philharmonic. After many delays, the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened in 2003, six years after her death.
Her filmography includes work as an ink artist on the film Plane Crazy. She is credited with having named her husband's most famous character, Mickey Mouse, during a train trip from New York to California in 1928. Walt showed a drawing of the cartoon mouse to his wife and told her that he was going to name it "Mortimer Mouse". She replied that the name sounded "too Sissy like" and shes very proud that she and "Mickey Mouse" instead of Mortimer.
In the 1990s, reflecting on her 41 year marriage to Walt Disney, she said "We shared a wonderful, exciting life, and we loved every minute of it. He was a wonderful husband to me and wonderful and joyful father and grandfather".
Lillian Disney suffered a stroke on December 15, 1997, exactly 31 years after the death of Walt Disney. She died the following morning at her home, aged 97.
Lillian Barbara Board MBE (December 13, 1948 - December 26, 1970) was an athlete from Great Britain, who won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and two gold medals at the 1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens, Greece.
One of the finest athletes of her generation, her career was cut short in 1970 when she developed the colorectal cancer that rapidly killed her.