Messner, Tammy Faye (07 March 1942–20 July 2007), evangelical personality and television performer who rose to fame as Tammy Faye Bakker, was born Tamara Faye LaValley in International Falls, Minnesota, to Rachel and Carl LaValley as the oldest of eight children, two born before her parents’ divorce when she was three and six born after her mother remarried. Life was difficult for Tammy in the gritty working-class town. After her mother’s divorce, the family were outcasts in their strict Pentecostal church where divorce and remarriage were sins equal to adultery. Despite the open hostility often directed their way, the church remained the focal point of their lives. The family was poor. Their house, which friends remembered as “squalid,” did not have indoor plumbing and only had three bedrooms for the entire family with four kids often sharing one bed. When Tammy was ten, she experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues at her mother’s church. She was also popular at church and school. She won queen of Bible camp two summers in a row and participated in theater productions at school. It was while playing a part in ...
