Thirty-nine years ago today, on March 4, 1983, George Jones wed Nancy Sepulvado. The ceremony took place at the home of Jones’ sister, Helen Scroggins, in Woodville, Texas.
The marriage was the fourth for Jones. Previously, he had been married to Dorothy Bonvillion, Shirley Ann Corley and Tammy Wynette, the last of whom he divorced in 1975. But it was Sepulvado, his wife until his death in 2013, whom Jones considered his soulmate.
“No teenage boy ever fell harder for a girl than I fell for Nancy Sepulvado,” Jones said in his 1996 autobiography, I Lived to Tell It All (quote via Country Weekly). “When I met my future wife on a blind date in November 1981, I had no idea that someday she would save my life.”
Jones, who had a highly publicized battle with drugs and alcohol, relied on his fourth wife to finally help him get sober.
“They say love can change the world,” the country legend continued. “I’m here to testify that it changed one man. Friends, family, doctors, therapists and ministers had tried to save me, but to no avail. But finally the power of love from one woman, Nancy Jones, made the difference.”
Nancy Jones knew of her husband’s reputation, which earned him the nickname “No Show Jones” because of his ongoing addiction issues, but she remained undeterred.
“I’d heard the horror stories,” she says, “but I’m of the opinion you don’t believe it ’til you see it. I ended up seeing plenty of it, but we just clicked. I saw a lot of good in a man who was being totally destroyed.”
The new bride and groom toasted their nuptials with a dinner at Burger King following their wedding ceremony.
George Jones died on April 26, 2013. His wife later placed a monument with the inscription “He Stopped Loving Her Today” at his grave in Nashville’s Woodlawn Cemetery.
This story was originally written by Gayle Thompson, and revised by Angela Stefano.
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