Rosalie Jean Willis is the first wife of the infamous cult leader, Charles Manson.
Rosalie Willis was born on January 28, 1937 to Clarence Willis and Virginia McNich and grew up in Benwood, West Virginia. Rosalie Willis was the third child and she had three siblings; two sisters, named Amy and Eileen and a brother named Clarence “Buster” Willis. Rosie Willis’s parents divorced when she was quite young.
Rosalie Willis was working as a waitress in a hospital when she first met Charles Manson, who’d later go on to become a notorious cultist. At the time Rosalie Willis met Charles Manson, she was just 15 years old while Manson was believed to be in his twenties.
Rosalie Willis and Charles Manson got married on January 7, 1955 at the Nazarene Church. At the time of their marriage, Charles Manson was a car repairer and a car thief and despite knowing this, Rosalie Willis stayed on and believed that her beloved husband would change. However, it was not to be the case and three years after marriage, Rosalie Willis filed for divorce.
Rosalie Willis and Charles Manson had only one child called Charles Manson Jr, who was born in 1956. Charles Manson was in prison when Rosalie Willis was pregnant.
While Charles Mason was still in prison, Rosalie Willis settled with another man and this was because she saw no hope in her marriage with Charles Manson after frequent visits to him in prison.
Charles Manson Jr. could not get away from his father’s shadow and having failed to overcome the trauma of being a son to a murderer, he shot himself in the head at the age of 37.
Rosalie Willis’s husband, Charles Manson was a notorious criminal and cult leader. In the mid-1967, he formed what became known as the “Manson Family”, a quasi-commune based in California. His followers committed a series of 9 murders at four locations in July and August 1969.
In 1971, Charles Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people, including the film actress Sharon Tate.
After her divorce with Charles Manson, Rosalie Willis married Jack White. Rosalie Willis had two more children with Jack White; Jesse J. White, who was born in 1958 and Jed White, who was born in 1959.
However, in 1965, Rosalie Willis ended her marriage with Jack White and then moved on to marry another man named Warren Howard Handley.
As time passed Rosalie Willis had to go through a fate that no mother can bear to go through; Rosalie Willis’s three children with her previous husband’s passed away. More than that, they did not die because of any natural causes.
Rosalie Willis’s third husband, Warren Howard Handley, passed away in 1998. Rosalie Willis went on to live another 11 years, all alone until her death on August 21, 2009.
Rosalie Willis was battling with lung cancer for a long time while she peacefully passed away at her home in Tucson, Arizona.