Who was Mary Jane Thomas? Hank Williams Jr.’s wife was a Florida model
Jupiter police responded earlier this week to a medical call concerning Mary Jane Thomas, wife of country music star Hank Williams Jr., after she fell ill at the Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa.
Thomas, 58, died Tuesday at a Jupiter hospital.
The Palm Beach Medical Examiner has not released a cause of death yet. Reports could take a minimum of 90 days to be finalized and released, Diovanni Chapman, the department’s administrative technician told the Miami Herald in an email.
Williams, 72, is familiar to many music fans over a career dating back to an appearance singing his namesake father’s songs on ABC’s “The Jimmy Dean Show” in 1964 when he was 14.
For more than 20 years, his 1984 Top 10 country single “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” was retooled to serve as the opening theme to broadcasts of “Monday Night Football.”
But Thomas, the singer-songwriter’s third wife, kept a lower profile. She didn’t aim at the music spotlight the way her husband and most of his children, including their son Sam, did.
So who is Mary Jane Thomas?
This much we know:
She was a native of Daytona Beach
Thomas was reportedly born in Tennessee. But son Sam referenced his mother’s Florida roots in his statement to People magazine this week.
“My father fell in love with the Daytona Beach beauty the minute he set eyes on her in the early ’80s.”
Thomas was a model
That Florida sunshine paid off.
When Thomas was in her 20s she modeled for Hawaiian Tropic in the 1980s. But while there are ads from the 1980s from the suntan product company dotting the cyberspace, its ads featuring Thomas are hard to find online, reports The Focus.
Her modeling days ended when she married Williams. But you would see her before cameras on red carpets over the years with her husband at country music award shows, including last November when he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Meeting Hank Williams Jr.
Williams and Thomas reportedly met at one of his concerts in Washington State in 1985. At the time he was riding high with country hits like “All My Rowdy Friends,” “Attitude Adjustment” and “I’m for Love.”
They married in July 1990 before 50 family members and friends at University Congregational Church in Missoula, Montana, The Los Angeles Times reported at the time. This was her first marriage, his third.
A mom to two
The couple had two children together and she was stepmom to Williams’ three children. They raised their children in Paris, Tennessee.
Tragically, their eldest, Katie Williams-Dunning, died in 2020 at age 27 in a car accident in Tennessee. Her husband, Tyler Dunning, was critically injured but survived the crash, Fox News reported.
Son Sam Williams, 24, is a singer like his dad and his late grandfather, songwriting icon Hank Williams, who died at 29 in 1953.
In August 2021, Williams released his debut album, “Glasshouse Children.”
The album’s downbeat pop music sounds nothing like the music his dad and granddad are known for. In other words, it’s not country, despite duets with legend Dolly Parton and contemporary country guitarist Keith Urban.
Separation, reconciliation
Williams Jr. filed for divorce in 2007 after the couple had been wed about 16 years. In a statement sent to the Associated Press at the time, Williams claimed Mary Jane had had a problem with addiction.
“Today is one of the toughest days in my life. My family has lived with the pain of Mary Jane’s addiction over the last several years and I have exhausted all efforts in the rehabilitation process. Today, I’ve decided for the sake of my children to create a healthier home environment during their formative years. All families experience difficulties, I hope everyone will respect our privacy during this time,” Williams’ statement, sent through his then publicist Kirt Webster, read at the time.
The pair ultimately reconciled and the divorce petition was called off.
Survivors
Thomas’ survivors include her husband Hank Jr. and son Sam; her parents Ramona and Bill; her siblings Andy and Angela; and grandchildren Beau Weston, Tennyson Hiram and Audrey Jane, according to WNDB — News Daytona Beach.
