Melanie Anderson Blunt is the wife of former

Missouri Governor The governor of Missouri is the head of government of the U.S. state of Missouri and the commander-in-chief of the Missouri National Guard. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by t ...

Matt Blunt, serving as

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

from 2005 to 2009. During that period, she was the youngest spouse of a U.S. state governor in the United States. She was succeeded as First Lady by Georganne W. Nixon, the wife of Governor Jay Nixon, on January 12, 2009.

Early life

Melanie Anderson was born in Middleburg, Virginia in Loudoun County and attended James Madison University in

Harrisonburg, Virginia Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is also the county seat of the surrounding Rockingham County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. At the 2 ...

, where she graduated summa cum laude with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Fashion Merchandising. After college, she managed retail stores for

The Limited The Limited was an American clothing retailer that operated retail stores between the early 1960s and the late 2010s. After 2007, it became a brand, originally owned by the private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, now owned by another private equ ...

and

Talbots The Talbots, Inc. (doing business as Talbots and stylized as TALBOTS) is an American specialty retailer and direct marketer of women's clothing, shoes and fashion accessories. As of 2018, the company operated 495 Talbots stores in the United S ...

and met Matt Blunt during his active service in the U.S. Navy. They were married in 1997 and moved to her husband's hometown of

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. Their first son, William Branch Blunt, was born in March 2005, two months after his father took office as Governor. Their second son, Brooks Anderson Blunt, was born on January 1, 2010.

Historic preservation efforts

Blunt led an initiative to restore the

Missouri Governor's Mansion The Missouri Governor's Mansion is a historic U.S. residence in Jefferson City, Missouri. It is located at 100 Madison Street. On May 21, 1969, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It is located in the Missouri State C ...

, a Renaissance Revival-style home designed by St. Louis architect George Ingham Barnett and completed in 1871. Blunt's efforts included successfully lobbying the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

for $3.1 million in funding, as well as hosting a luncheon with the First Ladies, the first-ever event to bring together Missouri's First Ladies for a common cause.

Charitable works

Blunt served as honorary chair of Missouri Citizens for the Arts from 2007 to 2008. She has also taken active leadership roles in

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...

and Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.Priddy, Bob
"Team Blunt Heads to St. Louis for Race for the Cure
Missourinet, June 15, 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blunt, Melanie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Middleburg, Virginia First Ladies and Gentlemen of Missouri People from Springfield, Missouri Missouri Republicans James Madison University alumni