( CNN ) -- Cornelia Wallace , ex-wife of four-time Alabama Gov . George Wallace , has died , the governor 's office announced . She was in her late 60s . The cause of death was not immediately known . `` She served as first lady during a very turbulent time and our thoughts and prayers are with her family today , '' Alabama Gov . Bob Riley and wife Patsy said in a statement . Cornelia Wallace first met her husband at a party in the Alabama governor 's mansion when her uncle , James Folsom , was governor and she was only eight years old , Time Magazine reported in 1972 . She was 19 years younger than Wallace . At the time , Wallace was a state legislator married to his first wife , Lurleen , who also served as Alabama governor . The then Cornelia Ellis went to the semifinals of the Miss Alabama contest before becoming the star of the Cypress Gardens water ski show in Florida , Time reported . She married John Snively III , a millionaire whose family once owned the Gardens . The couple had two sons but divorced seven years later . After Lurleen Wallace died of cancer in 1968 , George Wallace got back in touch with Cornelia Ellis Snively and they married in 1971 . The following year , Cornelia Wallace was beside her husband when he was shot in a 1972 assassination attempt in a Maryland parking lot . George and Cornelia Wallace divorced after his failed bid for the U.S. presidency in 1976 . George Wallace died in Montgomery on September 13 , 1998 .
Cornelia Wallace was in her late 60s . She was with Wallace when would-be assassin shot him in 1972 . Comment: Bob Riley says .