Though she couldn’t have foreseen it when her husband was elected governor four years ago, Hurricane Katrina recovery became a primary focus for Marsha Barbour, Mississippi’s first lady.
For Angel Eaves, who hopes her husband will soon be governor, her cause became clear to her when she met a boy who reminded her of her son.
“He’d had over 50 surgeries, he was 14 and, even though part of his face had been burned, he looked like Brady,” she says, referring to her 11-year-old son.
So, true to the tradition of presidents’, governors’ and even mayors’ wives, Angel Eaves will have a cause if her husband wins the gubernatorial election against Haley Barbour on Nov. 6, and even if he doesn’t: getting a trauma burn treatment center in Mississippi.
“It’s something I’m going to work toward, no matter what,” she says. “But, as first lady, I would be a voice and a face for the state. I believe that’s what a first lady is.”