Evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker Messner Dies
by Jeremy Reynalds
July 23, 2007
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI (ANS) -- Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, the former televangelist and Christian singer died Friday morning of inoperable cancer, CNN's Larry King said Sat. night. She was 65.
King said the family had asked him to make the delayed announcement.
Messner was a guest on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Thursday (www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/07/21/bpr.larry.king.tammy.faye.dead.cnn). She told him she couldn't swallow food, and weighed only 65 pounds.
King said the family postponed the death announcement for a day so family members could gather. Messner was cremated and interred in a remote part of Kansas at the Kansas-Oklahoma state line, King said.
"The family appreciates all of the well wishes of so many people," the talk show host said on CNN.
"She wanted a party," King added. "They're going to schedule a party in two to three weeks in Palm Springs, California. Her friends will be invited. And she wanted it to be a celebration.
She died peacefully. Anyone who saw her on our show this week knew that she didn't have long."
King asked her Thursday if she were "a little scared." She replied, "A little bit," adding that she was mostly concerned about her family.
"Our family is deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Tammy Faye," her former husband Jim Bakker said late Sat. in a statement on his web site. "She lived her life like the song she sang, 'If Life Hands You a Lemon, Make Lemonade.'"
Bakker added, "My heart aches for my two children, Jamie Charles and Tammy Sue, who loved their mother dearly. They both told me their mom was so full of life that it is hard to believe she is gone."
Bakker noted that Tammy Sue stayed by her mother's side caring for her round the clock during the last year and that son Jamie Charles also spent as much time as he could with his mother prior to her death, taking her out to eat or shop.
"Tammy Faye's deep faith in God has kept her throughout her life as well as during these last days of her life," Bakker added. "In her last 48 hours she shared her faith in Jesus Christ on worldwide television with millions of people. She is now in heaven with her mother and grandmother and Jesus Christ, the one who she loves and has served from childhood. That is the comfort I can give to all who loved her."
Quoting from the Bible, Bakker said, "God's Word declares of heaven, 'He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain, because all the old ways are gone.' This is the hope of our family."
After Messner divorced Bakker, to whom she was married for more than 30 years, she married former PTL contractor Roe Messner in 1993.
CNN reported that Messner underwent surgery for colon cancer in 1996. In 2004, she revealed that the disease had spread to her lungs, and in May 2007 announced that her doctors had stopped trying to treat the illness.
In her appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live," Messner was a shadow of her former self.
"I believe when I leave this earth, because I love the Lord, I am going straight to heaven," she told King.
CNN reported that Messner told King she was bedridden most of the time, had trouble swallowing food -- hence the weight loss -- and was in almost constant pain.
But her sense of humor was still intact, CNN reported. On her web site, she wrote last Mon. (www.tammyfaye.com/note20070716.asp), "I crave hamburgers and french fries with LOTS of ketchup! When I can eat that again, it will be a day of victory!"
Asked by King what she would most like to be remembered for, CNN reported Messner replied, "well, my eyelashes." Messner was known for her use of heavy makeup.
Born Tammy Faye LaValley in International Falls, Minnesota, CNN reported she married Bakker in 1961. From 1966 to 1973, the Bakkers co-hosted "The 700 Club," on the Christian Broadcasting Network, founded by television evangelist Pat Robertson.
In a statement on CBN's web site Robertson said, "Tammy Faye Messner bravely carried on her life despite the wasting cancer that has finally taken her. I know that she is now with the Lord, and the sorrow that she has experienced will all pass away in the light of God's love. Her bravery in the midst of her suffering will be an inspiration to many."
Jim and Tammy Bakker began The PTL Club -- with the initials standing for "Praise The Lord" or "People That Love" - in 1974 and later expanded it into a television network. CNN reported that at the height of its popularity, PTL was bringing in more than $128 million annually and was carried on 1,300 cable systems with 12 million subscribers.
In 1978, the Heritage USA theme park opened at the network's headquarters in Fort Mill, S.C. The Heritage USA Grand Hotel was added in 1984 and a water park in 1986. That year, more than 6 million people visited the park, making it the nation's third most popular attraction after Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
On March 19, 1987, Jim Bakker resigned from PTL in the face of a scandal involving an affair seven years earlier with Jessica Hahn. CNN reported that Hahn received a one-time $115,000 payment and monthly interest payments from a $150,000 trust fund.
The following month, PTL filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Also in 1987, Messner was treated at the Betty Ford Center for prescription drug addiction.
In Dec.1988, Bakker was indicted for fraud and conspiring to defraud churchgoers of $158 million. Messner was not named in the indictment.
In 1989, Heritage USA and the Grand Hotel closed, and Bakker was convicted of 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Messner divorced him while he was incarcerated. Bakker was paroled in Dec. 1994.
Asked by King on Thursday what she would change in her life if she could, Messner replied, "I don't think about that, Larry, because that's just a waste of good brain space."
When King suggested that she might want to forget the PTL Club, CNN reported she said, "I have gotten over that, thank God. That was a terrible, horribly bad experience."
CNN reported that the Bakkers' 30-year-old son is a pastor who co-founded the Revolution Church in Brooklyn, New York -- a church aimed at those who feel rejected by traditional approaches to Christianity. According to the church's web site, he wrestled with religion after seeing what he called the "excommunicative" treatment his parents experienced from the church after the scandal.
Messner has also been known as one of the few evangelical Christians who had the support of the gay community, CNN reported. She was one of the first televangelists to reach out to those with AIDS. She told King in July, "When I went -- when we lost everything, it was the gay people that came to my rescue, and I will always love them for that."
For those who criticized her work with gays Messner had a quick response, telling me in a 2002 interview published in Charisma Magazine (www.charismamag.com/display.php?id=6899), "I thought the church was supposed to be a hospital and not a courtroom."
She was able to rebound after PTL folded, CNN reported. In 1996, she co-hosted the "Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show" with gay actor Jim J. Bullock. In 2000, a documentary based on her life, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. And in 2003, she appeared on The WB network's reality show, "The Surreal Life."
Messner also recorded more than 25 albums and wrote several books. In 1996, she wrote her autobiography, "Telling it My Way." She also wrote "Run to the Roar," a book about overcoming fear, and in 2003 wrote her last book, "I Will Survive, and You Will Too."
Despite her battle with cancer, Messner told King she kept her Christian faith, instructing her doctors not to tell her how much time they believed she had left.
"I don't have any date written on me anywhere that says I'm going to die at any time, and so I just give it to the Lord," she said.
Asked by King if she had a message for her fans, she replied, "I'd like to say that I genuinely love you, and I genuinely care, and I genuinely want to see you in heaven someday. I want you to find peace. I want you to find joy."
For the final note written by Messner, go to www.tammyfaye.com/note20070716.asp
© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission.
