Background
Born Lillian Marie Bounds in Spalding, Idaho, she grew up in Lapwai, Idaho, on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation where her father worked as a blacksmith and federal marshal.
artist philanthropist secretary
Born Lillian Marie Bounds in Spalding, Idaho, she grew up in Lapwai, Idaho, on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation where her father worked as a blacksmith and federal marshal.
She was working at the Disney Studio in "ink and paint" as a secretary when she met Walt. She had short brown hair, was slim, and was thought to be very stylish. She took deep pride that Walt Disney would drive the other girls home before her, even though her stop was the closest.
Her film career includes work as an ink artist on the film Plane Crazy.
Lillian is credited with having named her husband"s most famous character, Mickey Mouse, during a train trip from New York to California in 1928. Walt named one of the Disneyland Railroad cars the "Lilly Belle" in her honor, and the Walt Disney World Railroad has a locomotive named "Lilly Belle", where each locomotive is named for someone who greatly contributed to the Walt Disney Company.
Walt Disney Imagineering created "The Empress Lilly", a paddle steamer replica, at Walt Disney World in Downtown Disney (Florida) and Lillian christened it on May 1, 1977. Lillian was inducted into the Disney Legends in 2003.
Following Walt Disney"s death in 1966, Lillian Disney was married to John L. Truyens from May 1969 until his death in February 1981.
In 1987, she pledged a $50 million gift towards the construction of a new concert hall in Los Los Angeles After several delays, the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened in 2003, six years after her death. In the 1990s, reflecting on her 41-year marriage to Walt Disney, she said, "We shared a wonderful, exciting life, and we loved every minute of lieutenant