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Lenore LaFount Romney (born ''Lenore Lafount'' but adopted the variation ''LaFount'';〔 November 9, 1908 – July 7, 1998) was the wife of American businessman and politician George W. Romney and was First Lady of Michigan from 1963 to 1969. She was the Republican Party nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1970 from Michigan. Her youngest son, Mitt Romney, was the former Governor of Massachusetts and was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. Lenore LaFount was born in Logan, Utah, and raised in Salt Lake City. She went to Latter-day Saints High School, where she developed an interest in drama and first met George Romney. She attended the University of Utah and George Washington University, graduating from the latter in 1929. She studied acting at the American Laboratory Theatre in New York, then went to Hollywood where she became a bit player who appeared in a number of films with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Turning down a contract offer with them, she married George Romney in 1931. The couple had four children together; she was a stay-at-home mother, eventually living in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, while he became a success in business and politics. Lenore Romney was a popular First Lady of Michigan and was a frequent speaker at events and before civic groups. She was involved with many charitable, volunteer, and cultural organizations, including high positions with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, YWCA, and American Field Services, and also was active in the LDS Church that she was a lifelong member of. She was an asset to her husband's 1968 presidential campaign. Although a traditionalist, she was an advocate for the greater involvement of women in business and politics. In 1970, she was urged by her husband and state Republican Party officials to run against popular, two-term Democratic incumbent Senator Philip Hart. However, she struggled to establish herself as a serious candidate apart from her husband and failed to capture the support of conservatives within the party, only narrowly defeating State Senator Robert J. Huber in the party primary. Her difficulties continued in the general election and she lost to Hart by a two-to-one margin. She returned to volunteer activities during the 1970s, including stints on the boards of the National Center for Voluntary Action and the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and gave speeches to various organizations. == Early life and education == Lenore LaFount was born on November 9, 1908, in Logan, Utah, the second of four daughters Alma Luella (née Robison; 1882–1938) and Harold Arundel Lafount (1880–1952).〔〔 Her father was born in Birmingham in England, and her mother, born in Montpelier, Idaho, was of colonial English ancestry (with more distant French roots). She had three sisters, one older and two younger.〔 The family belonged to the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints;〔 her father had converted to it in England and then come to the U.S., while her maternal grandmother, Rosetta Berry, had been one of the Mormon handcart pioneers.〔Mahoney, ''The Story of George Romney'', p. 70.〕 Her father worked as a headphone manufacturer while her mother was prominent in local charities.〔Harris, ''Romney's Way'', p. 57.〕 Lenore was raised in Salt Lake City, in a house located at Fifteenth South and Ninth East.〔 She played the ukelele and was a member of the LDS girls club The Seagulls.〔Harris, ''Romney's Way'', p. 54.〕 She attended Latter-day Saints High School, where she had a strong interest in drama.〔Mahoney, ''The Story of George Romney'', pp. 68, 71.〕 In 1924, during her junior year, she and senior George W. Romney became high-school sweethearts.〔Harris, ''Romney's Way'', p. 53.〕 She was from a more assimilated Mormon family than his, which had struggled with financial failure and debt.〔〔Harris, ''Romney's Way'', pp. 53–55.〕 Although she was a "reach" for him in terms of social standing, he pursued her relentlessly from that point on,〔〔 studying at a nearby junior college while she was a senior. She graduated from high school in 1926 after only three years and attended the University of Utah for two years, while George went to England and Scotland to serve as a Mormon missionary〔〔Mahoney, ''The Story of George Romney'', p. 74.〕〔 (making her "promise never to kiss anybody" while he was away).〔 At the university, she was a member of the Chi Omega sorority.〔 In 1927, she was one of six attractive young women chosen to welcome Charles Lindbergh to Salt Lake City following his historic ''Spirit of St. Louis'' flight, and she was featured on the front page of the ''Salt Lake Telegram'' as a result.〔Mahoney, ''The Story of George Romney'', pp. 81–82.〕 Later that year, on the strength of his friendship with U.S. Senator Reed Smoot, Harold Lafount was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge to serve on the new Federal Radio Commission.〔 The family moved to Washington, D.C.,〔 and Lenore transferred to George Washington University, where she graduated with an A.B. degree in English literature in June 1929 after spending only three years total in college.〔〔〔〔Mahoney, ''The Story of George Romney'', pp. 90, 103.〕 George returned from his missionary stint and soon followed her to Washington.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lenore Romney」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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