Prison Pen Pals Women

Ex-La. gov, 83, marries 32-year-old prison pen pal

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana's colorful 83-year-old ex-governor has married a 32-year-old woman who befriended him while he was serving a federal prison sentence for bribery and extortion.

Four-term Democrat Edwin Edwards told a crowd in the lobby of the Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans' historic French Quarter that he married Trina Grimes Scott in a simple private ceremony Friday morning.

Grimes, clutching a bridal bouquet, stood next to Edwards, who did most of the talking to reporters and admirers in the hotel lobby. The two had corresponded while Edwards was in prison.

Ex-Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards Marries Prison Pen Pal Less Than ...

NEW ORLEANS — Colorful former Gov. Edwin Edwards, who turns 84 next month, on Friday married a 32-year-old woman who befriended him during his federal prison sentence for bribery and extortion.

Edwards, a Democrat who served four terms as governor in the 1970s, `80s and `90s, did most of the talking after he and bride Trina Grimes Scott emerged from an elevator at the Monteleone Hotel in the French Quarter.

“People who don’t know me don’t know what a wonderful, pleasant, modest fellow I am,” Edwards said when asked how a man his age managed to land a much-younger wife.

He also told reporters how Grimes, who started writing him letters while he was in prison, visited him there regularly on weekends and holidays in recent years.

“The prison was in love with her — they used to watch her walk across the parking lot,” Edwards said, laughing. “They made me the camp hero.”

The two have not talked about what prompted her to choose him as a pen pal.

Edwards spent eight years in federal prison for his role in a bribery and extortion scheme to rig riverboat casino licenses during his fourth term in the early 1990s. In July, he completed six months of home detention and regular reporting to a Baton Rouge halfway house.

Grimes became Edwards’ third wife in what the governor said was a small, private ceremony earlier Friday at the hotel, with a few friends and family in attendance.

“It’s great, I’m very happy,” the bride told reporters. She has posted wedding updates on her Facebook page, which does not list an occupation.

Edwards wore a blue suit, while his new wife wore a cream-colored, knee-length, strapless dress.

A reporter asked what the dress was made of and she said she didn’t know. Edwards, born and raised in Louisiana’s Cajun country, quipped: “It’s Italian silk, with a Cajun twist.”

After posing for pictures, the couple walked around the block to Galatoire’s Restaurant on Bourbon Street, to smatterings of applause from tourists and workers in taxi cabs and delivery trucks.

They were followed by a small parade of reporters, photographers, and an entourage that included state Supreme Court Justice Catherine Kimball, who performed the wedding ceremony, and her husband, former state Rep. Clyde Kimball.

Edwards, who also served in Congress, brought charisma and power to state politics that rivaled that of Louisiana’s other favorite populist sons, Huey and Earl Long.

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