Mary Blackshear Sessions
Mary Blackshear Sessions is the long time wife of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions. Her husband currently serves as the Chairman of two Senate subcommittees: Immigration and the National Interest, and Strategic Forces.
He is also President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general.
Mary’s husband was born Jefferson Beauregard “Jeff” Sessions III on December 24, 1946 in Selma, Alabama. He attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1969. He also holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Alabama.
Sessions is a former United States Army Reserve Captain.
He had a distinguished legal career, first as a practicing attorney in Russellville, Alabama, and then in Mobile, his current home.
After a two-year period as Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, Sessions was nominated by President Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by the Senate to serve as the United States Attorney for Alabama’s Southern District, a position he held for 12 years.
Jeff Sessions was elected Alabama Attorney General in 1995, serving as the state’s chief legal officer until 1997, when he entered the United States Senate.
Sen. Sessions was then selected for the 112th and 113th Congresses to serve as the Ranking Member on the Senate Budget Committee. He is also a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
He is the author of the Honoring Every Requirement of Exemplary Service (HEROES) Act, which was signed into law in May 2005.
The veteran senator from Alabama was re-elected to the Senate for a fourth term in 2014.
While serving in the United States Senate, Sessions has received numerous awards including: the American Conservative Union Award for Conservative Excellence; the Reserve Officers Association Minuteman of the Year Award; the National Taxpayers Union Friend of the Taxpayer Award, among others.
The 70-year-old has been well accompanied by his wife of 47-years, Mary Blackshear Sessions.
Mary Blackshear married Jeff Session in 1969. The couple met while attending Huntingdon college in Alabama.
Accoridng to Huntingdon, Mary Blackshear was born in Montgomery and raised in Gadsden, Alabama. Like her husband, Mary was an active member of Huntingdon College’s Young Republicans. In addition, Mary participated in the Huntingdon Christian Council, Westminster Fellowship, Social Standards Board, and the International Club.
Apparently she kept busy during her college years. She was inducted into Sigma Sigma Sigma, was a Garland Bearer during May Day, and was a senior representative on the All-Star Queen and Court for intramural football.
While her husband attended the University of Alabama, Mary Blackshear Sessions taught in Tuscaloosa, Reform, and Montgomery schools.
As her husband’s career advanced, the couple welcomed three children Mary Abigail Reinhardt, Ruth Sessions Walk, and Sam.
Mary Abigail is married to Navy Commanding Officer, Paul Reinhardt. Son, Sam Sessions who is lawyer working in Birmingham, is married to wife, Angela. While Ruth Sessions is married to John Walk.
Once her children were grown, she took a more active role as a political spouse. As is expected she is linked to a number of issues, she is active in CHERUBS, a charity dedicated to helping families affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia and Congenital Heart Defect.
She also serves in the prayer shawl ministry for her church and as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a member of the Senate Spouses Club, the Congressional Club, the Republican Congressional Spouses, and the Advisory Committee of Congressional Families Cancer Prevention.
Mary and her husband are also the proud grandparents to seven granddaughters, Jane Ritchie, Alexa, Gracie, Sophia, Hannah, Joanna, and Phoebe and three grandsons, Jim Beau, Lewis, and Nicholas.