Helen Walton

Helen Robson Kemper Walton (December 3, 1919 – April 19, 2007) was the wife of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club founder Sam Walton. At one point in her life, she was the richest American and the eleventh-richest woman in the world.

Helen was born in Claremore, Oklahoma. She was the valedictorian of her high school class in Claremore, Oklahoma, and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma at Norman with a degree in business. She was the daughter of L.S. Robson, a prosperous rancher. She married Sam Walton on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1943.

Helen and Sam Walton had four children: sons Samuel Robson (Rob) (born 1944), John Thomas (1946-2005), James Carr (Jim) (born 1948), and daughter Alice Louise (born 1949).

When Sam Walton died in 1992, he left his ownership in Wal-Mart to Helen and their four children.

In the last eight years of her life, Helen suffered from dementia but gained peace painting watercolors. “They’re abstract but just lyrical and beautiful,” said her daughter Alice in an October 2013 interview with Forbes. “I have two. One’s very happy and…oh, whimsical, I guess you would say. Then there’s one she did right before she died. I mean, you could almost tell. She knew.”

She died of heart failure on April 19, 2007. At the time of her death, she had an estimated net worth of $16.4 billion. Ms. Walton was survived by her brother, Frank Robson; three children, Samuel Robson Walton, Jim C. Walton, and Alice Louise Walton; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.