Mary Kay Letourneau

Mary Katherine Schmitz was born in Tustin, Calif., on Jan. 30, 1962. Her mother was a chemist. Her father, John G. Schmitz, was a California Republican state senator and former official with the ultraconservative John Birch Society. John Schmitz represented Orange County in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1970 to 1973; won the 1972 presidential nomination of the American Independent Party, an organization started by segregationist Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace; and became known for incendiary remarks about women, minorities and political rivals. He quit politics in 1982 when it became public that his mistress was pregnant with his second child. She attended Arizona State University and left to marry Steve Letourneau, a fellow student. They eventually settled in the Seattle area, and she completed a bachelor’s degree from Seattle University in 1989. They divorced while she was in prison.