Tammy Faye Bakker

Tamara Faye Tammy Messner née LaValley March 7 1942 July 20 2007 formerly Tammy Faye Bakker was an American Christian singer evangelist entrepreneur author talk show host and television personality She initially gained notice for her work with The PTL Club a televangelist program she cofounded with her husband Jim Bakker in 1974 Prior to founding The PTL Club they had hosted their own puppet show series for local programming in Minnesota in the early 1970s and Messner also had a career as a recording artist In 1978 she and Bakker built Heritage USA a Christian theme park Messner would garner significant publicity when Jim Bakker was indicted convicted and imprisoned on numerous counts of fraud and conspiracy in 1989 resulting in the dissolution of The PTL Club After divorcing Bakker in 1992 she remarried to Roe Messner She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1996 of which she suffered intermittently for over a decade before dying of the disease in 2007 Over the course of her career Messner was noted for her eccentric and glamorous persona as well as for her moral views that diverged from those of many mainstream Evangelists particularly her acceptance of the LGBT community and reaching out to HIVAIDS patients at the height of the AIDS epidemic From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia