Jim Lovell and his wife Marilyn Lovell’s Love Story

Marilyn Lovell was the wife of Jim Lovell. Marilyn Lovell’s husband is a retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and mechanical engineer. As command module pilot of Apollo 8, Lovell with Frank Borman and William Anders became one of the first three astronauts to fly to and orbit the Moon. Lovell later commanded the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970 which, after a critical failure en route, circled the Moon and returned safely to Earth. Who is Jim Lovell’s wife?

Marilyn Lovell: Bio Summary

Who is Jim Lovell’s wife, Marilyn Gerlach?

Marilyn Lovell was born on July 11, 1930, in the United States of America as Marilyn Gerlach. As of 2023, she is 93 years old. She is the daughter of Lillie (née Nordrum 1891–1974) and Carl Gerlach. Marilyn Gerlach grew up in Milwaukee and attended 27th Street Elementary School and Juneau High School. Only a handful of astronaut marriages lasted, however, Jim and Marilyn Lovell’s was one of the lucky ones. The couple have been together for more than 7 decades and their love is still growing stronger.

Jim Lovell and his wife Marilyn meet in High school

As said earlier, Marilyn grew up in Milwaukee and was a student at 27th Street Elementary School and Juneau High School, where the boy who would someday become an astronaut noticed her as he worked in the school cafeteria. Marilyn was a freshman, and Jim was a junior.

ALSO, READ; Susan Lovell: Where is Jim Lovell’s daughter now?

“The prom was coming and I had to invite some girl to the prom, you had to invite junior girls. I invited a girl, but when she found out I wasn’t going to be prom king she dropped me like a hot potato. I didn’t have anyone else, so I invited Marilyn,” Lovell recalled, Milwaukee Jsonline reported.

Jim’s wife Marilyn Lovell initially was hesitant about dating him because he was two years older than her, but she gave it a chance, and eventually, the two became inseparable after their first date. To keep their love story going Marilyn transferred her credits from Wisconsin State Teachers College to George Washington University in Washington D.C. so she could be near him while he was training in Annapolis.

ALSO, READ; Who is Barbara Lovell, Jim Lovell’s daughter?

During Jim’s second year at the academy, the love birds were on a date in Annapolis when he suggested they stop at a jewelry store to look at engagement rings. But Jim apparently forgot something.

“She’s always been mad at me about this,” The command module pilot of Apollo 8 recalled. “She said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘What kind of engagement ring.’ She said, ‘Are you proposing to me?’ I guess I forgot to add the formality to it. I thought it was a given. So I asked, ‘Do you want to marry me?’ ” Marilyn said yes. Her engagement ring was a duplicate of his academy class ring.

Jim and Marilyn Lovell are parents of four children

Jim and Marilyn married after his graduation from the Naval Academy on June 6, 1952. Jim graduated at 11 a.m. and by 1 p.m. he and Marilyn Lovell were saying their vows. They tied the knot at St. Anne’s Church in a beautiful wedding ceremony in the presence of their friends, families, and loved ones. Fast Foward, the couple had four children: Barbara (born in 1953), James (1955), Susan (1958), and Jeffrey (1966).

ALSO, READ; Who is Jay Lovell, Jim Lovell’s son?

Due to Jim Lovell often being absent from the home because of training and missions, his wife, Marilyn took charge and was in charge of taking care of their household and four children. Jim and Marilyn Lovell’s home life during the Apollo 13 mission of 1970 was portrayed in the 1995 film Apollo 13.

Tom Hanks was cast as Jim and Marilyn was portrayed by Actress Kathleen Quinlan. In order to prepare, Hanks visited Lovell and Marilyn at their home in Texas. Actress Quinlan was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Marilyn Lovell. In the film, it was shown that Jim Lovell’s wife lose her wedding ring down the shower drain. Marilyn Lovell confined that this actually happened in real life, saying, “To me, it felt like the worst omen of all” but she was later able to get the ring back

The Apollo 13 disaster, Marilyn thought she would have lost her husband

The Apollo 13 which Marilyn Lovell’s husband Jim commanded’s malfunction was caused by an explosion and rupture of oxygen tank no.2 in the service module. The explosion ruptured a line or damaged a valve in the no. 1 oxygen tank, causing it to lose oxygen rapidly. The command module of Apollo 13 entered Earth’s atmosphere and splashed down on Target on April 17. The mission has been referred to as a successful failure, in that all the crew members survived a catastrophic accident.

Jim’s heroism was depicted in the movie by Tom Hanks as he helped avoid disaster aboard Apollo 13. But it was no movie to the Astronaut’s wife. For four days in April 1970, every agonizing moment of her husband’s dire situation was playing out not only in her living room but across the country. “As the years went on I thought, ‘What would I have done if I had become a widow?‘” Marilyn said.

ALSO, READ; Jeffrey Lovell: Where is Jim Lovell’s son now?

From Jim’s earliest days as an astronaut, his career came first and even when she found herself pregnant, Marilyn Lovell hid it from him for four months, fearing that it might ruin her husband’s chances of going to the moon, per Cbsnews. That is how much she supports his husband’s career.

Jim Lovell named Part of the Moon after his wife Marilyn Lovell

When Astronaut Neil Armstrong steered the lunar lander to the Sea of Tranquility in 1969, one of the landmarks that caught his eyes before settling on the moon’s surface was a triangular-shaped mountain. It is called Mount Marilyn. The triangular-shaped mountain was named at about the time of the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon in 1968 by astronaut Jim Lovell for his wife, Marilyn.

And then there was the Christmas present he sent to her doorstep while he was still in space. “I opened it, and it was a mink jacket, with a little card in there saying, ‘Merry Christmas from the man in the moon,‘” recalled Marilyn Lovell. The photo of Mount Marilyn is framed and hanging on the wall of the entryway of the Lovells’ home. Jim and his wife are still married. They have been married for more than seven decades.

ALSO, READ; Jim Lovell’s children: Meet Barbara, Jay, Susan, Jeffery Lovell

Is Marilyn Lovell still alive?

Jim Lovell’s wife Marilyn Lovell passed away on August 27, 2023. She was 93 years old. Her death was announced by the Wenban Funeral Home of Lake Forest per The New York Times. Her husband Jim is also 96 years old as of 2024. The couple had a two-year age gap.