Sandy Allen

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A woman who grew to be 7 feet, 7 inches tall and was recognized as the world’s tallest female died early Wednesday, a friend said. She was 53.

Sandy Allen, who used her height to inspire schoolchildren to accept those who are different, died at a nursing home in her hometown of Shelbyville, family friend Rita Rose said.

The cause of death was not yet known. Allen had been hospitalized in recent months as she suffered from a recurring blood infection, along with diabetes, breathing troubles and kidney failure, Rose said.

In London, Guinness World Records spokesman Damian Field confirmed Wednesday that Allen was still listed as the tallest woman. Some Web sites cite a 7-foot-9 woman from China.

Coincidentally, Allen lived in the same nursing home, Heritage House Convalescent Center, as 115-year-old Edna Parker, whom Guinness has recognized as the world’s oldest person since August 2007.

Allen said a tumor caused her pituitary gland to produce too much growth hormone. She underwent an operation in 1977 to stop further growth.

But she was proud of her height, Rose said. “She embraced it,” she said. “She used it as a tool to educate people.”

Allen appeared on television shows and spoke to church and school groups to bring youngsters her message that it was all right to be different.

Allen weighed 6-1/2 pounds when she was born in June 1955. By the age of 10 she had grown to be 6-foot-3, and by age 16 she was 7-1.

She wrote to Guinness World Records in 1974, saying she would like to get to know someone her own height.

“It is needless to say my social life is practically nil and perhaps the publicity from your book may brighten my life,” she wrote.

The recognition as the world’s tallest woman helped Allen accept her height and become less shy, Rose said.

“It kind of brought her out of her shell,” Rose said. “She got to the point where she could joke about it.”

In the 1980s, she appeared for several years at the Guinness Museum of World Records in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

“I’ll never forget the old Japanese man who couldn’t speak English, so he decided to feel for himself if I was real,” she recalled with a chuckle when she moved back to Indiana in 1987.

“At Guinness there were days when I felt like I was doing a freak show,” she said. “When that feeling came too often, I knew I had to come back home.”

Difficulty with mobility had forced Allen to curtail her public speaking in recent years, Rose said. She had suffered from diabetes and other ailments and used a wheelchair to get around.

Rose is working to set up a scholarship fund in Allen’s name, with proceeds going to Shelbyville High School.

“She loved talking to kids because they would ask more honest questions,” Rose said. “Adults would kind of stand back and stare and not know how to approach her.”

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press

Bill Gwatney

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Bill Gwatney, who served stints as an Arkansas state senator, chairman of the state’s Democratic Party and as a party superdelegate, died Wednesday after a gunman burst into his office at the state party headquarters and shot him several times. He was 48. Gwatney was fatally shot by Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, of Searcy, police said. Police did not know of a motive, and they said there was no indication that Johnson and Gwatney were acquainted. The shooting occurred only two blocks from the state Capitol, where Gwatney served in the state Senate from 1993-2002. The owner of three Little Rock-area car dealerships, Gwatney had been planning to travel to the Democratic National Convention later this month as a superdelegate. He had backed Hillary Rodham Clinton, but endorsed Barack Obama after she dropped out of the race. Clinton and her husband, former President and former Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, issued a statement saying Gwatney was “not only a strong chairman of Arkansas’ Democratic Party, but … also a cherished friend and confidante.” The seriousness Gwatney brought to his political manuevering was absent as he advertised his three General Motors car dealerships. He hoisted a giant inflatable dragon atop a showroom in Jacksonville and dubbed it “Gwatzilla,” and there was no doubt, in his mind, where buyers could make a good deal. Gwatney became head of the state party in 2007, just after Mike Huckabee left office after 10 1/2 years as a popular Republican governor. Gwatney had considered running against Huckabee in 2002, but later backed away from the idea, saying he liked “being a state senator, where I have a forum to criticize him.” He also was mentioned as a possible U.S. Senate candidate. “When you’re down there at the Capitol every day and you’re frustrated, sure, you think about it,” Gwatney said at the time. “Now, I’m home with my wife and kids, and my frustration level isn’t pegging out at 110 percent.” Although he didn’t enter the 2002 race, he was still involved – playing Huckabee while helping Democratic nominee Jimmie Lou Fisher practice for debates. “He did real well. He was able to put a different hat on,” Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola said. After Gwatney’s death, Huckabee called the shooting a “senseless act of depraved violence that touches all of us.” “He was a very effective leader for his party and an event like this certainly makes all politics seem small and insignificant,” Huckabee said. Gwatney served as finance chairman for Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe’s successful 2006 run and oversaw the party’s sweep of all the state’s top elected positions, drawing credit for bringing the party together and giving it energy not seen since Bill Clinton left the governor’s mansion for the White House in 1992. Gwatney and Beebe served together in the Senate and were close friends. Beebe visited with Gwatney’s family at the hospital after the shooting. “Arkansas has lost a great son, and I have lost a great friend,” Beebe said. “There is deep pain in Arkansas tonight because of the sheer number of people who knew, respected and loved Bill Gwatney. Along with thousands of other Arkansans, Ginger and I are trying to come to terms with such a shocking and senseless attack.” As a legislator he sponsored a successful bill that required elected officials to report more specifically on the gifts they receive. He also once backed a bill that would have given legislators a raise, something he explained to voters by saying the money came to about 75 cents a day. In recent weeks, Gwatney successfully urged the party to refuse to certify former Rep. Dwayne Dobbins as a candidate for a state House. Dobbins resigned his North Little Rock seat three years ago to settle a felony sexual assault and made a surprise filing to run again this year for the position. Gwatney was born Aug. 26, 1959. His father, Harold Gwatney, was a lifelong Democrat who once served as the adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard. Gwatney is survived by his wife Rebecca; two daughters from a prior marriage, Christian and Chase; and two stepchildren, Zachary and Emily. Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press