Posted on 08/12/2012 2:59:38 PM PDT by NYer
An interesting glimpse at Paul Ryan’s wife, from the Washington Post:
Janna Ryan, wife of Republican vice presidential pick Rep. Paul Ryan, is the poster girl for Generation X women who wanted to have it all.
Ryan, 43, like many of her 40-something peers, is a stay-at-home mother with an impressive resume. She prefers her husband’s hometown, Janesville, Wis., to Washington and remains out of the political limelight.
But Janna Christine Little Ryan hails from Oklahoma, a state known for its Will Rogers’s common-sense ideals mixed with a smidgen of Wild West attitude.
She grew up Madill, Okla., in the southern part of the state on the Texas state line. Founded in 1901, the small town, population 3,781 in 2009, was a spot on the train route from Dallas to Tulsa. Madill is also known for its trailer manufacturing firms.
Politics, it appears, was in Janna’s blood from the beginning.
The Oklahoman’s political blog reported Saturday that her grandfather, Reuel W. Little, was a lawyer and rancher in the state who helped form a third political party in Oklahoma in the 1960s. His 1993 obituary stated that he was the American Party’s gubernatorial candidate in 1970. Three years earlier, Little started the push for a third party in order to get former Alabama governor George Wallace on the ballot as a presidential candidate.
Janna’s first cousin is Oklahoma Democratic Rep. Dan Boren. He issued a statement on Saturday about the Ryans:
“Andrea and I are excited for Paul and Janna. Janna and I grew up together and I couldn’t be more proud of my cousin. Like my late mother after whom she is named, Janna is a wonderful parent to their children and will be Paul’s strongest supporter on the campaign trail.”
Janna left Oklahoma to attend Wellesley College, the alma mater of many remarkable women including Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Diane Sawyer. After graduation, she attended George Washington University Law School and became a tax attorney and lobbyist for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Arlington, Va.
Janna met Paul through a mutual friend. Rumor has it that the pair often hunted together (Paul Ryan prefers bows and arrows for hunting) during their brief courtship in 1999. They even shared a deer stand. Not surprising, since every Oklahoma woman I know loves to hunt.
Paul asked Janna to marry him on a lake where he often fished. They married in Oklahoma City in 2000 and then settled in Ryan’s Wisconsin’s home town, population 63,479, where they live in a historic house with six bedrooms and eight baths.
The couple has three children: Elizabeth Anne, Charles Wilson, and Samuel Lowery. According to news reports, Janna is a devout Catholic and attends St. John Vianney Catholic Church with her husband when he is in town.
An owner of an Italian restaurant in Janesville told Politico, “She’s a very soft spoken, elegant, and lady-like. Very family-oriented. Always with her kids, always here picking up food for her family. Just warm, easygoing, not upfront in the public arena. You can see her on the TV, she really stays back and doesn’t attract much attention to herself. Just an amazing lady-like figure.”
I understand your point but remember how Mrs McCain tried to horn in on the Palin kids and freaked them out? Can you imagine all the Ps& Qs the little Ryan kids had to remember...it probably would have been overkill to have Mrs Romney add to the moment and add to their stress. I think all the families handled it with grace. I still remember when our “lovely” family was chosen to light the Advent wreath at church and suddenly my well behaved 4 yr old son decided to throw a fit because he thought the lighter wasn’t throwing out a big enough flame LOL!!
Wow she went to Wellesley and is a lawyer.
That’s major buzzkill for me.
Paul what we’re you thinking?
She will make an excellent FIRST lady.
“The comments after the article are off the charts. Ryan scares the pants off the Dems.”
I’m loving it! I’ve been checking the libtard sites and OMG.
Prepare for the riots when their Kenyan gets the boot!
I’ve wondered how many square feet you have per person in your house. (We will be dropping below 220 sometime in the next two months).
“The comments after the article are off the charts.”
You have that right! Hell, the comments are more enlightening tan the story itself!
The left have become unhinged in this country!
-——The comments after the article are off the charts. Ryan scares the pants off the Dems. It’s going to get so ugly.———
Whoa....right you are....the comments are vile ugly mean nasty.....these people are very scared their little socialist dream is about to ripped away and are lashing out like petulant child that need to be insitutionized...
i can hear RAT heads exploding right now... Janna met Paul through a mutual friend. Rumor has it that the pair often hunted together (Paul Ryan prefers bows and arrows for hunting) during their brief courtship in 1999. They even shared a deer stand. Not surprising, since every Oklahoma woman I know loves to hunt.
This is the best picture I have ever seen of Janna.
And why are people making snide remarks about her and her house? She lives in a 100 year old house on the same block where Paul grew up and within 5 blocks of 8 other Ryan families. I find that charming, not odd. She raises her kids like a single mom most of the week because she chooses to live in Wisconsin, not DC. Paul sleeps in his office in DC and rushes right home after the House closes business for the week.
This is the best picture I have ever seen of Janna.
And why are people making snide remarks about her and her house? She lives in a 100 year old house on the same block where Paul grew up and within 5 blocks of 8 other Ryan families. I find that charming, not odd. She raises her kids like a single mom most of the week because she chooses to live in Wisconsin, not DC. Paul sleeps in his office in DC and rushes right home after the House closes business for the week.
Paul Ryan’s kids do not belong to Ann Romney. Why should she be hugging them? To suggest that she should is just off base.
“Great picture.”
It is. Notice how they’re walking in the same direction and both are smiling, but they’re looking in different directions. Ann is looking at Mitt, whose hand is at the edge of the photo, and Janna is looking at Paul and their kids. Good shot.
Good grief! It’s one photograph.
Or mutual interests drew them together as a precursor to their marriage.
Paul Ryan received his early training at the feet of Jack Kemp as his staffer and speech writer. And Jack Kemp served as speech writer and staffer to Ronald Reagan when he was Governor of California. So, you could say that Ryan's political genealogy extends in a direct line from Ronald Reagan.
Yes, the comments at the linked WashPost article are truly ugly.
I had to find a pencil and do a long division problem! It’s something around 210, because there are 11 of us, and the house is a bit less than 2,400 sq.ft. When Anoreth is home, we’re under 200, and tripping over each other a lot. Of course, Kathleen (at 6 months) doesn’t need much space, while Tom (6’2”, 240 lbs.) ought to have his own Quonset hut.
It’s the eight bathrooms that make me sigh with longing. That’s not typical in older houses; I wonder if the place was a boarding house or something like that, at some point.
And congratulations on the shrinkage of your house!
So the town is a lot older than history has it. It is unique!
So the town is a lot older than history has it. It is unique!
The eight bathrooms—hmmm. Yes. How many girls do you have? We now have a bath and a half, but together they are under 40 square feet.
When our eldest was about three and her mother was attempting to get her out of the bathroom, she said something to the effect of “You can have privacy or you can have love—you can’t have both. Which do you choose?”
Four girls, three at home, two using the bathroom ;-). The bathroom-hogs are the 18-year-old son and the 12-year-old daughter ... and we’d probably have the 3-year-old toilet trained if there wasn’t always somebody in there!
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