His firstborn, Michael, arrived in 1934, and he was the spitting image of his father. Later, as he produced some of his father’s movies, he also titled as the “John Wayne Foundation president.”
Mary Antonia was born two years later, and lived a private life with her husband, and her eight children.
His third child was Patrick, and he followed his father’s footsteps and became an actor. He appeared in “Mister Roberts,” “The Searchers,” “The People That Time Forgot,” and “Sinbad.”
Melinda was his last child from Saenz, as she had appeared in some of her father’s movies.
His first child with Pallete was Aissa, and she became a lawyer after appeared in some movies.
Marisa was his second daughter from Pallete, and as her siblings, she tried the movie industry too, and later she had married, and had two children.
Ethan was the youngest son of Wayne, as he had a more special bond with him. He was 56, when he had his youngest son. They were in a normal life, except the mail they were receiving. Wayne would cook with the neighbors, and would answer the door himself. As Ethan said, they had no bodyguards too.
“He took with me on location. I’d be home schooled down on location in Mexico because he knew he wasn’t going to be around for me when I was older,[…]or if he went on his boat, The Wild Goose.”
“I loved everything I did with my dad. He carried these autograph cards, and as a little kid, it was my job to have them ready if we were out in public and he was trying to get through a crowd….I came along when he was 56.”
“I recently read that someone asked my father why he took me out of school to travel with him. He answered, ‘Boys go away when they get to be 16 or 17, and they don’t come back until they’re in their 30s. I won’t be there for Ethan when he’s in his 30s, so I’m gonna love him now.’”
Aissa, Ethan’s sister said, “When he was dying, he turned to my late brother, Michael, and said, ‘Whatever you do, use my name for the benefit of the public. If it weren’t for the public, I wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t have had the life we had.’”
When it was 1979, Wayne passed away at the age of 72, after his long lasting battle with cancer.
He excluded his wife from his will, and divided his $6.85 million worth of wealth between his children.
