Alma Powell, wife of late Secretary of State Colin Powell, dies at 86

CNN
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Alma Johnson Powell, wife of the late Secretary of State Colin Powell, has passed away at the age of 86.

Her death was confirmed by Peggy Cifrino, a former chief of staff for the foreign service and a spokeswoman for the family.

“[Powell]was the bedrock of our family,” the couple’s three children, Michael, Linda and Ann Marie, said in a statement provided to CNN. “During a childhood filled with constant changes in homes, we always felt safe because home was wherever she was. She was an exemplary role model for us and for the world. Alongside our father, she served our country with intelligence and grace. We will miss her greatly but take comfort in the fact that she lived a full life and was reunited with our father.”

The Powells were married for nearly 60 years, and Alma was by her husband’s side throughout his illustrious military career. They met on a blind date in 1961. He served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H. W. Bush and as Secretary of State under President George W. Bush just before being deployed to Vietnam as a military advisor.

Four months after they were married, Powell was deployed to Vietnam, leaving Alma alone for the first few years of her married life, an experience she later called “the defining experience of my life.”

“I owe my life to my career as a military wife. I consider the military to be family.” Alma Powell once said: “When we were younger, my dad was away a lot. … So, like a lot of military spouses today, I was essentially a single parent. My job was to make a home wherever I was. Wherever our family was, home was our home.”

Colin Powell’s Final interviewIn July 2021, he told journalist Bob Woodward that his wife is the best person he knows.

“She was always on my side and would say, ‘That’s not good,’ and she was usually right,” he said.

One of the key decisions was whether Colin Powell would run for president as a Republican in 1996. He was immensely popular as the driving force behind the US-led coalition victory in the Gulf War, but the New York Times report In 1995, he gave up running for the presidency on the advice of his wife and children, who feared for his safety as he sought to become the first black commander in chief.

“It would be a dangerous position for a black person to run for president,” Alma Powell said in 1996. CNN reported:.

When Powell died, Listed As chairman emeritus of America’s Promise Alliance, a nonprofit founded by her husband, she aims to help at-risk youth by coordinating the efforts of a cross-sector consortium of community organizations, businesses and government agencies. according to National Museum of African American History and Culture.

She also serves on the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for American Studies, served on President Barack Obama’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Advisory Council from 2010 to 2012, and served as an adviser to the Red Cross for the Military District of Washington while her husband served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. according to Check out Alma Powell’s biography on the America’s Promise Alliance website.

Alma Powell was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on Oct. 27, 1937, Mr. Schifrin said. She Researched Schifrino studied speech-language pathology and audiology at Emerson College in Boston and previously worked as an audiologist for the Boston Association of the Hearing Impaired, where her work included “hearing testing, fitting veterans with hearing aids and teaching the deaf how to read lips,” Schifrino said.

In a statement, Schifrino said Powell leaves behind the couple’s three children, one niece and two nephews, as well as “countless other beloved relatives and friends.”

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect Colin Powell’s promotion to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H. W. Bush. It has also been updated with additional background information.

CNN’s Jamie Gangel and Faith Karimi contributed to this report.