By Alabama Public Radio
Holly Pond, AL – Former Alabama First Lady Helen Hunt has died from a pulmonary disease. Cullman County Republican Party chairman Bill Floyd says former Governor Guy Hunt and their four children were with Mrs. Hunt Monday afternoon when she died at Woodland Medical Center. She had been in the hospital since November 13 with pulmonary fibrosis. That disease stops the lungs from transferring oxygen into the bloodstream. As First Lady, Hunt worked with handicapped children. She began a campaign to stop littering, and she also encouraged children to read. The RSA Helen Hunt Learning Center is now a daycare center in Montgomery. Mrs. Hunt will lie in state at the Mount Vernon Primitive Baptist Church in Fairview from Thursday afternoon until her funeral Friday afternoon. She was 70 years old.