Bettye Bohannon: J. Howard Marshall II's Second Wife, Marriage, Death, and Verified Facts

Bettye Bohannon was the second wife of oil investor and lawyer J. Howard Marshall II. They married in 1961, and she died in 1991, before he married Anna Nicole Smith in 1994. She never became a public figure herself. Her name surfaces in searches about Marshall's famous estate battle, yet few pages explain who she was. Many of those pages also repeat unsourced details.

This guide separates confirmed facts from repeated guesses. It covers her marriage, her stepsons, her death, her birth, her name, and her net worth. Where sources conflict, we say so and explain which claim is better supported. Reading it takes about six minutes.

Who Was Bettye Bohannon?

Bettye Bohannon was the second wife of J. Howard Marshall II, a Houston oil investor. Reference works list their marriage as running from 1961 until her death in 1991.

She was not a public figure. We found no interview with her, and no news story from her lifetime treats her as its subject. Her name survives mainly because of her husband's later fame. That is why most pages about her are short and borrow from one another. A few add colorful details with no source, and we left those out. Searches for Bettye Marshall lead to the same woman, since that was her married name.

When Did Bettye Bohannon Marry J. Howard Marshall II?

Bettye Bohannon married J. Howard Marshall II in 1961. Wikipedia's entry on Marshall lists the marriage as running from 1961 until her death in 1991.

Several biography sites give a more exact date of December 10, 1961, and describe a church wedding in Tennessee. None cite a marriage record, so we treat the exact date and venue as reported. Those pages also say the marriage followed the end of his first marriage, to Eleanor Pierce, in the same year. We treat that detail as reported too, since it comes from the same kind of sources.

The couple stayed married for roughly three decades. That is long enough that she appears in the family story for most of Marshall's later career.

Who Was J. Howard Marshall II?

J. Howard Marshall II was an American lawyer, businessman, and government official. He owned 16 percent of Koch Industries, and he died in Houston on August 4, 1995, at age 90.

He was born in Philadelphia on January 24, 1905, and graduated from Haverford College in 1926. During World War II he returned to Washington as Solicitor of the Petroleum Administration for War. Oil investing later built his fortune. He is also described as a legal scholar. Today he is best remembered for his last marriage and the estate fight that followed it, not for his career.

Was Bettye Bohannon Connected to Anna Nicole Smith?

Bettye Bohannon's only link to Anna Nicole Smith is her husband. Smith married Marshall during the last 14 months of his life, years after Bettye died in 1991.

Smith was Marshall's third wife, and Bettye was his second. The long estate dispute reached the U.S. Supreme Court in Marshall v. Marshall and Stern v. Marshall. It centered on Smith and Marshall's son E. Pierce Marshall. We found no source placing Bettye in that case. Pages that tie her to it are usually borrowing the famous name to attract searches.

Did Bettye Bohannon Have Children?

No source we reviewed lists children from Bettye Bohannon's marriage to J. Howard Marshall II. She became stepmother to his two sons, J. Howard Marshall III and E. Pierce Marshall.

Both sons came from his earlier marriage. Whether Bettye had children before she married him is not documented anywhere we looked. Treat any claim about her own children as unverified. Pages that state a number without naming a source are guessing.

When and How Did Bettye Bohannon Die?

Bettye Bohannon died in 1991. Biography sites give the date as September 12, 1991, at age 88, but none cite a primary record for the exact day.

Wikipedia confirms the year through Marshall's entry, which lists her as having died in 1991. Many sites say she died of Alzheimer's disease. One names Harris County, Texas, as the place of death, while another says Tennessee. Those details conflict, so we treat the place and cause as reported only. A death certificate or newspaper obituary would settle it.

When Was Bettye Bohannon Born?

Bettye Bohannon's birth date is not confirmed by a primary record. Several biography sites say she was born on December 9, 1902, in Tennessee, which fits an age of 88 at her death.

Genealogy databases list more than one Bettye Bohannon born in Tennessee around 1902 or 1903, and others born in later decades. That overlap makes mix-ups easy. A record is hers only if it also links her to Marshall. Sites name her parents as William Hopkins Bohannon and Stella Bohannon. That detail rests on genealogy-style sources, so treat it as reported.

What Was Bettye Bohannon's Full Name?

Her full name is most often reported as Bettye Bessie Bohannon, though some sources say Bettye Maxine Bohannon. After marriage she was known as Bettye Marshall.

The sources disagree on the middle name, and genealogy listings include both forms. The conflict could come from two records for the same woman or from different women. We cannot resolve it without a primary record, so we use Bettye Bohannon throughout this article.

What Is Bettye Bohannon's Net Worth?

Bettye Bohannon's net worth is not publicly known. No verified source reports any income, assets, or inheritance in her own name.

Her husband's fortune is well documented, since he owned 16 percent of Koch Industries. A spouse's wealth is not the same as her net worth. She died in 1991, and the sources we reviewed give no figure for her estate. Any number you see online is a guess, and we chose not to print one. The same caution applies to claims about her property or any inheritance she may have received.

Which Facts About Bettye Bohannon Can You Trust?

Three facts hold up best. She was J. Howard Marshall II's second wife, they married in 1961, and she died in 1991. Wikipedia's entry on Marshall supports all three. We built this article on those facts and labeled everything else.

Several details stay unconfirmed. These include the exact marriage and death dates, her birth date, her parents, her middle name, and the cause of death. Each appears on a few sites without a document. Many top results are near-copies of one another, so a repeated claim is not a confirmed claim.

The best checks are reference biographies of Marshall, Tennessee or Texas records, and newspaper obituaries. If a page cannot point to one of those, treat its details with caution.

What Else Do People Ask About Bettye Bohannon?

Who was Bettye Bohannon?

Bettye Bohannon was the second wife of oil investor J. Howard Marshall II. They were married from 1961 until her death in 1991.

When did Bettye Bohannon marry J. Howard Marshall?

They married in 1961. Some sites give the date as December 10, 1961, but none cite a marriage record.

When did Bettye Bohannon die?

She died in 1991. Many sites say September 12, 1991, at age 88, but the exact day is not confirmed by a primary record.

Was Bettye Bohannon related to Anna Nicole Smith?

We found no source that connects them except through Marshall. Bettye was his second wife, and Smith was his third.

What Should You Remember About Bettye Bohannon?

Bettye Bohannon was J. Howard Marshall II's second wife, married to him from 1961 until her death in 1991. That timeline, supported by Wikipedia's entry on Marshall, is the firmest part of her story.

Her birth date, middle name, parents, and cause of death rest on weaker sources, so treat them with care. She never sought public attention, and respectful coverage should keep her story separate from the Anna Nicole Smith estate dispute. When you share her story, cite reference works and say where the evidence stops.