Mrs. Huntsman has been described as having significant political gifts and a major asset to her husband's political endeavors by Time Magazine. From 2003 to 2007 she was First Lady of Utah.
She was born Mary Kaye Cooper to an Episcopalian family living in Orlando, FL. When she was 15, in ninth grade, her family made the move from the South to Salt Lake City, Utah in the West. She went to Highland High School in Salt Lake City where she met Jon Huntsman, Jr. They were both active in student government. They started dating when they worked together at a Salt Lake City Marie Callender Pie Shop.
She married Jon Huntsman, Jr. in 1983. The couple have 7 children: Mary Anne (b. 1985), Abigail (b. 1986) married to Jeffrey Livingston, Elizabeth "Liddy" (b. 1989), Jon III (b. 1991), William (b. 1993), Gracie Mei (b. 1999; adopted from China), and Asha Bharati (b. 2006; adopted from India).
In 1997, Huntsman and her daughter Liddy who at 8 was diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes initiated the Bag of Hope program in Salt Lake City to help children and their families cope with juvenile diabetes. The therapeutic concept is for families who have experienced dealing with the disease to help newly diagnosed children and their families, and in helping to be themselves strengthened emotionally. Thus, at the time of diagnosis of a child of type 1 diabetes, a child and parent who have experience with type 1 diabetes visit. The child is then presented with a bag of healthy goodies, a stuffed animal and helpful info. This is the beginning of a caring support system. Today Bag of Hope is a national program headed by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
According to Judith George, Director of the Office of the First Lady Governor's Mansion of Utah, "The way people treat their staff is a telling point and Mrs. Huntsman was never out of sorts...She just treated her staff with great courtesy and respect.
Huntsman is known in Utah for her dedication to children's issues and her passion for getting others involved. While serving as Utah's First Lady, Huntsman built on her experience with Bag of Hope, and started a program called Power in You aimed at helping youth who had to deal with all sorts of different adversities. "Power in You." aims to give teens hope by providing them with inspirational stories from young adults and life improvement by directing them to numerous professional resources that will provide them with support for their challenges.
Huntsman served as Honorary Chair of the Literacy Commission and the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She twice co-chaired the annual "Speaking of Women's Health" conference. She also spoke out about the youth problem of Cyber-bullying.
2009-2011 Huntsman describes her role, "to tend to the well-being and morale of all the other embassy families. News
Huntsman engaged in an attack against cigarette advertising in China. She shared with the Chinese her personal loss; her sister died of acute lung cancer at the age of 34. Noting that 1/4 of the population in China smokes; 66% of men and 10% of women, Huntsman implored the Chinese women to not succumb to the media campaign that was trying to seduce them to smoke.
Regarding her husband running for office for the 2012 presidential election, Huntsman said, "I am very comfortable. I feel very much at peace about it. At the end of the day it's his decision, and he knows we are 100 percent behind him. I believe in him. She was instrumental in making the strategic decision to headquarter Jon Huntsman JR.'s 2012 Presidential Campaign in Orlando, FL. She lived in Orlando until she was 14, and her parents and some extended family live there now. Mark Halperin journalist for Time Magazine says, "she has political gifts that rival her husband’s and a Southern/Sunshine State upbringing that will be a major asset.
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