Louise Bundy talks to her son, Ted, minutes before he is executed in a Florida prison in 1989. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune file)
The woman who gave birth to one of the nation's most notorious serial killers and defended and loved him as only a mother could has died.
Louise Bundy of Tacoma was 88 when she passed away last month after a long illness.
Bundy was a married mother of five and working as a secretary at the University of Puget Sound in the mid-1970s when allegations against her son, Ted Bundy, turned her life upside down.
Authorities across the nation accused her eldest child in a string of gruesome killings. He ultimately confessed to murdering more than two dozen women and was executed in 1989 after being convicted of killing two Florida State University sorority members and a 12-year-old girl.
For many years, Louise Bundy refused to believe her son could be a killer.
"Ted Bundy does not go around killing women and little children!" she told The News Tribune in 1980 after Ted Bundy was convicted in the Florida killings. "And I know this, too, that our never-ending faith in Ted – our faith that he is innocent – has never wavered. And it never will."
That stance softened over time as he made a number of Death Row confessions, but she still would rise to his defense if she thought he was unfairly accused.
Such was the case in 1999 when there was speculation Ted Bundy might have killed Ann Marie Burr back in 1961. The 8-year-old girl disappeared from her house and was never seen again.
"I resent the fact that everybody in Tacoma thinks just because he lived in Tacoma he did that one, too, way back when he was 14," Louise Bundy told The News Tribune. "I'm sure he didn't."
Ted Bundy is one of a number of suspects in the case, but authorities have never been able to tie him directly to the girl's disappearance.
Louise Bundy remained in Tacoma following her son's execution and was an active member of Tacoma's First United Methodist Church until recent years when she became too ill to attend, the church's pastor, the Rev. Melvin Woodworth, said Wednesday.
"I always enjoyed Louise," Woodworth said.
Her son's troubles took a toll on her. She and her husband, John Bundy, endured jokes and dirty looks over the years and often were forced to change their telephone number to avoid angry calls.
Through it all, she loved her boy.
She talked to him twice on the day of his execution, according to news accounts, telling him at the conclusion of the second call, "You'll always be my precious son."∼A devout Christian and loving mother to five children and grandmother of two. Eleanor Louise Cowell "Nelson" Marshall was sister to Julie Cowell and Audrey Cowell, ex-wife to John Culpepper Bundy. Theodore "Ted" Robert Bundy's mother gives two different stories for paternity of her first child, Ted Bundy. The name on Ted's birth certificate was Lloyd Marshall. She later married Lloyd Marshall, an Air Force veteran. However, she later spoke of being seduced by a war veteran named Jack Worthington. There is one other option, however. Some members of Bundy’s family think that his grandfather may also be his biological father. He was mentally unstable, violent and abusive. He would also fly into a rage if anyone spoke of Ted’s biological father. Her death was confirmed by the Rev. Melvin Woodworth, pastor of Tacoma's First United Methodist Church, which she attended from 1951 until a few years ago, when her health deteriorated. As any mother can empathize with unconditional love and devotion, without faulting maternal instincts and the power of forgiveness, her last words to Ted were, "You'll always be my precious son".
The woman who gave birth to one of the nation's most notorious serial killers and defended and loved him as only a mother could has died.
Louise Bundy of Tacoma was 88 when she passed away last month after a long illness.
Bundy was a married mother of five and working as a secretary at the University of Puget Sound in the mid-1970s when allegations against her son, Ted Bundy, turned her life upside down.
Authorities across the nation accused her eldest child in a string of gruesome killings. He ultimately confessed to murdering more than two dozen women and was executed in 1989 after being convicted of killing two Florida State University sorority members and a 12-year-old girl.
For many years, Louise Bundy refused to believe her son could be a killer.
"Ted Bundy does not go around killing women and little children!" she told The News Tribune in 1980 after Ted Bundy was convicted in the Florida killings. "And I know this, too, that our never-ending faith in Ted – our faith that he is innocent – has never wavered. And it never will."
That stance softened over time as he made a number of Death Row confessions, but she still would rise to his defense if she thought he was unfairly accused.
Such was the case in 1999 when there was speculation Ted Bundy might have killed Ann Marie Burr back in 1961. The 8-year-old girl disappeared from her house and was never seen again.
"I resent the fact that everybody in Tacoma thinks just because he lived in Tacoma he did that one, too, way back when he was 14," Louise Bundy told The News Tribune. "I'm sure he didn't."
Ted Bundy is one of a number of suspects in the case, but authorities have never been able to tie him directly to the girl's disappearance.
Louise Bundy remained in Tacoma following her son's execution and was an active member of Tacoma's First United Methodist Church until recent years when she became too ill to attend, the church's pastor, the Rev. Melvin Woodworth, said Wednesday.
"I always enjoyed Louise," Woodworth said.
Her son's troubles took a toll on her. She and her husband, John Bundy, endured jokes and dirty looks over the years and often were forced to change their telephone number to avoid angry calls.
Through it all, she loved her boy.
She talked to him twice on the day of his execution, according to news accounts, telling him at the conclusion of the second call, "You'll always be my precious son."∼A devout Christian and loving mother to five children and grandmother of two. Eleanor Louise Cowell "Nelson" Marshall was sister to Julie Cowell and Audrey Cowell, ex-wife to John Culpepper Bundy. Theodore "Ted" Robert Bundy's mother gives two different stories for paternity of her first child, Ted Bundy. The name on Ted's birth certificate was Lloyd Marshall. She later married Lloyd Marshall, an Air Force veteran. However, she later spoke of being seduced by a war veteran named Jack Worthington. There is one other option, however. Some members of Bundy’s family think that his grandfather may also be his biological father. He was mentally unstable, violent and abusive. He would also fly into a rage if anyone spoke of Ted’s biological father. Her death was confirmed by the Rev. Melvin Woodworth, pastor of Tacoma's First United Methodist Church, which she attended from 1951 until a few years ago, when her health deteriorated. As any mother can empathize with unconditional love and devotion, without faulting maternal instincts and the power of forgiveness, her last words to Ted were, "You'll always be my precious son".
Louise Bundy talks to her son, Ted, minutes before he is executed in a Florida prison in 1989. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune file)
The woman who gave birth to one of the nation's most notorious serial killers and defended and loved him as only a mother could has died.
Louise Bundy of Tacoma was 88 when she passed away last month after a long illness.
Bundy was a married mother of five and working as a secretary at the University of Puget Sound in the mid-1970s when allegations against her son, Ted Bundy, turned her life upside down.
Authorities across the nation accused her eldest child in a string of gruesome killings. He ultimately confessed to murdering more than two dozen women and was executed in 1989 after being convicted of killing two Florida State University sorority members and a 12-year-old girl.
For many years, Louise Bundy refused to believe her son could be a killer.
"Ted Bundy does not go around killing women and little children!" she told The News Tribune in 1980 after Ted Bundy was convicted in the Florida killings. "And I know this, too, that our never-ending faith in Ted – our faith that he is innocent – has never wavered. And it never will."
That stance softened over time as he made a number of Death Row confessions, but she still would rise to his defense if she thought he was unfairly accused.
Such was the case in 1999 when there was speculation Ted Bundy might have killed Ann Marie Burr back in 1961. The 8-year-old girl disappeared from her house and was never seen again.
"I resent the fact that everybody in Tacoma thinks just because he lived in Tacoma he did that one, too, way back when he was 14," Louise Bundy told The News Tribune. "I'm sure he didn't."
Ted Bundy is one of a number of suspects in the case, but authorities have never been able to tie him directly to the girl's disappearance.
Louise Bundy remained in Tacoma following her son's execution and was an active member of Tacoma's First United Methodist Church until recent years when she became too ill to attend, the church's pastor, the Rev. Melvin Woodworth, said Wednesday.
"I always enjoyed Louise," Woodworth said.
Her son's troubles took a toll on her. She and her husband, John Bundy, endured jokes and dirty looks over the years and often were forced to change their telephone number to avoid angry calls.
Through it all, she loved her boy.
She talked to him twice on the day of his execution, according to news accounts, telling him at the conclusion of the second call, "You'll always be my precious son."∼A devout Christian and loving mother to five children and grandmother of two. Eleanor Louise Cowell "Nelson" Marshall was sister to Julie Cowell and Audrey Cowell, ex-wife to John Culpepper Bundy. Theodore "Ted" Robert Bundy's mother gives two different stories for paternity of her first child, Ted Bundy. The name on Ted's birth certificate was Lloyd Marshall. She later married Lloyd Marshall, an Air Force veteran. However, she later spoke of being seduced by a war veteran named Jack Worthington. There is one other option, however. Some members of Bundy’s family think that his grandfather may also be his biological father. He was mentally unstable, violent and abusive. He would also fly into a rage if anyone spoke of Ted’s biological father. Her death was confirmed by the Rev. Melvin Woodworth, pastor of Tacoma's First United Methodist Church, which she attended from 1951 until a few years ago, when her health deteriorated. As any mother can empathize with unconditional love and devotion, without faulting maternal instincts and the power of forgiveness, her last words to Ted were, "You'll always be my precious son".
The woman who gave birth to one of the nation's most notorious serial killers and defended and loved him as only a mother could has died.
Louise Bundy of Tacoma was 88 when she passed away last month after a long illness.
Bundy was a married mother of five and working as a secretary at the University of Puget Sound in the mid-1970s when allegations against her son, Ted Bundy, turned her life upside down.
Authorities across the nation accused her eldest child in a string of gruesome killings. He ultimately confessed to murdering more than two dozen women and was executed in 1989 after being convicted of killing two Florida State University sorority members and a 12-year-old girl.
For many years, Louise Bundy refused to believe her son could be a killer.
"Ted Bundy does not go around killing women and little children!" she told The News Tribune in 1980 after Ted Bundy was convicted in the Florida killings. "And I know this, too, that our never-ending faith in Ted – our faith that he is innocent – has never wavered. And it never will."
That stance softened over time as he made a number of Death Row confessions, but she still would rise to his defense if she thought he was unfairly accused.
Such was the case in 1999 when there was speculation Ted Bundy might have killed Ann Marie Burr back in 1961. The 8-year-old girl disappeared from her house and was never seen again.
"I resent the fact that everybody in Tacoma thinks just because he lived in Tacoma he did that one, too, way back when he was 14," Louise Bundy told The News Tribune. "I'm sure he didn't."
Ted Bundy is one of a number of suspects in the case, but authorities have never been able to tie him directly to the girl's disappearance.
Louise Bundy remained in Tacoma following her son's execution and was an active member of Tacoma's First United Methodist Church until recent years when she became too ill to attend, the church's pastor, the Rev. Melvin Woodworth, said Wednesday.
"I always enjoyed Louise," Woodworth said.
Her son's troubles took a toll on her. She and her husband, John Bundy, endured jokes and dirty looks over the years and often were forced to change their telephone number to avoid angry calls.
Through it all, she loved her boy.
She talked to him twice on the day of his execution, according to news accounts, telling him at the conclusion of the second call, "You'll always be my precious son."∼A devout Christian and loving mother to five children and grandmother of two. Eleanor Louise Cowell "Nelson" Marshall was sister to Julie Cowell and Audrey Cowell, ex-wife to John Culpepper Bundy. Theodore "Ted" Robert Bundy's mother gives two different stories for paternity of her first child, Ted Bundy. The name on Ted's birth certificate was Lloyd Marshall. She later married Lloyd Marshall, an Air Force veteran. However, she later spoke of being seduced by a war veteran named Jack Worthington. There is one other option, however. Some members of Bundy’s family think that his grandfather may also be his biological father. He was mentally unstable, violent and abusive. He would also fly into a rage if anyone spoke of Ted’s biological father. Her death was confirmed by the Rev. Melvin Woodworth, pastor of Tacoma's First United Methodist Church, which she attended from 1951 until a few years ago, when her health deteriorated. As any mother can empathize with unconditional love and devotion, without faulting maternal instincts and the power of forgiveness, her last words to Ted were, "You'll always be my precious son".
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