Famous Graves : Tammy Faye Bakker (Messner) Singer, Evangelist | Founder of the PTL Club

Tamara Faye Messner (née LaValley, formerly Bakker; March 7, 1942 – July 20, 2007) was an American Christian singer, evangelist, author, talk show hostess, and television personality. She initially gained notice for her work with The PTL Club, a televangelist program she co-founded with her then-husband Jim Bakker in 1974. Prior to founding The PTL Club, they had hosted their own puppet show series for local programming in Minnesota in the early 1970s, and Messner also had a career as a recording artist. In 1978, she and Bakker built Heritage USA, a Christian theme park. On July 20, 2007, Messner died after 11 years with cancer. She was 65 years old. What had started as colon cancer had spread to her lungs. She died in her home, said her publicist, Joe Spotts. A family service was held on the morning of July 21, 2007, in the Messner family plot in Waldron, Kansas.