Back to JournalIn honor of Father’s Day comes the fourth photo story of John Wayne in a role he played best: Dad.
MELINDA WAYNE MUNOZ
Born in 1940, Melinda is John Wayne’s fourth child with wife Josephine Alicia Saenz. She remembers her dad as “just a normal father.” With a grounded upbringing, it was the everyday interest he showed—whether it was in her friends or her school grades—that mattered most. “He was a man of honor,” she says. “I loved being my father’s daughter.” Today, Melinda lives in Orange County, CA, where she enjoys spending an abundant amount of time with her family—and particularly, her 16 grandchildren. Undoubtedly, a special quality she inherited from her dad.
“My mother and father were very respectful to one another and never spoke against each other. That is a great example of how two people can be parents even though they are not married. My mom never gave an interview or talked about him [after their divorce], and he was hugely respectful and appreciative of her.”
