Wife of Hank Williams Jr.—Mary Jane Thomas—Dies Unexpectedly

This story has been updated.
The wife of Country Music Hall of Famer Hank Williams Jr. died unexpectedly in Jupiter, Florida on Tuesday, March 22nd, according to the family. Mary Jane Thomas, who Hank Williams Jr. married in 1990, was at the Jupiter Beach Resort and Spa when around 5:00 PM, a call was made to authorities. Mary Jane was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead. Mary Jane Thomas was believed to be 58-years-old, though some reports are marking her age at 61.
Though the investigation into Mary Jane’s death is preliminary, early indications are that she suffered a complication after a medical procedure, possibly a blood clot, according to a family source. At this time, the death is not being considered suspicious.
Mary Jane Thomas was a native of Dayton Beach, Florida, and was known for enjoying the area’s beaches. After attending college, she became a model, and among other gigs, became known for her work with Hawaiian Tropic Lotion. Mary Jane met Hank Williams Jr. in 1985 after a concert in Washington State. They were together for five years before marrying on July 2nd, 1990 at the University Congregational Church in Missoula, Montana. It was Mary Jane’s first marriage, and Hank Jr.’s fourth.
In 2007, the couple announced they would seek a divorce after sixteen years of marriage, but later reconciled, and called off the annulment. Mary Jane preferred to remain out of the spotlight after the marriage, rarely appearing in red carpet engagements and other public functions, or appearing on social media posts from the family. However, Mary Jane Thomas did appear at Hank Jr.’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony on November 21st, 2021.
The couple had two children—Sam Williams, who is also a music performer, and Katherine Williams-Dunning, a.k.a. Katie, who passed away on June 13th, 2020 in a vehicle accident.
The death of Mary Jane Thomas is the latest tragedy in a string of unfortunate incidents for Hank Williams Jr.’s family, including the death of daughter Katie in 2020. Hank Jr.’s daughters Hilary and Holly Williams from his marriage to Becky White were both severely injured in an auto accident in 2006, with Hilary going into cardiac arrest and having to be flown by helicopter to the hospital.
Hank Williams Jr.’s son Sam Williams claimed in February that he is currently in a conservatorship operated by his father and half sister Holly, stimulated in part due to the death of his sister. Now Sam Williams is dealing with the death of his mother.
“My dear Mama Mary Jane was a beautiful soul who forever affected everyone who knew her,” Sam Williams said. “She had a smile and presence that lit up every room, and she never met a stranger she didn’t befriend. Her spirit was gentle and giving. She could take down a ten-point buck and fix dinner for her grandchildren at the same time!”
“Now she gets to radiate from above with my sister Katherine Diana right by her side,” Sam Williams continued. “She grew up competing in baton and cheerleading and was one of Hawaiian Tropic’s top models. My father fell in love with the Daytona Beach beauty the minute he set eyes on her in the early 80s. They went on to live the most powerful love story of travel and hunting and raising a family.”
Saving Country Music reached out to the Jupiter, Florida Police Department for more information, but did not hear back by the time of this report. The death of Mary Jane Thomas was first reported by TMZ.
March 23, 2022 @ 5:46 pm
anyone else thinking what I’m thinking???
March 23, 2022 @ 6:54 pm
No
March 23, 2022 @ 7:19 pm
Tony,
No one cares about the hook you are trying to set. Buzz off and show a little respect as you leave. Good grief.
March 23, 2022 @ 9:12 pm
Highly improbable the wife of Hank Williams Jr. is getting a COVID shot at a beauty spa in late March of 2022. Let’s please not engage in wild speculation here, and understand that someone has just died, there’s no reason at this point to suspect COVID or vaccines in her death, and that these are off-topic discussions that are not welcome here, as has been nauseatingly underscored.
March 24, 2022 @ 10:07 am
Trig,
I’m not looking to wade into this, but I’m a huge fan of precision, and truth. I think it’s very important to be precise with our words, and precise with our arguments. Deaths related to the injection, typically aren’t immediate. So, saying that she didn’t get injected at the beauty spa, in no way rules out this being an injection-related death.
I’m not taking a side, or making a claim on whether or not this death was injection-related; I just want to correct your idea that injection-related deaths have to happen immediately after injection.
March 24, 2022 @ 10:38 am
How Mary Jane Thomas died is something that we should concern ourselves with because she was in the custody of others at the time, was relatively young, and not suffering from any other health ailments that we know of. I have queried the Jupiter, Florida police for more information on the case, autopsies tend to take six weeks to two months to accomplish, and I will continue to follow up with this story until we learn more. I’m not saying it’s impossible for Mary Jane to have somehow died of the COVID-19 vaccine, either in the near or long term. I said it was highly improbable. We do know people have died due to blood clots suffered after administration of the vaccine. But it is rare, and there is no reason to believe that is the case here, and I don’t think we should assume so until we have more information.
March 24, 2022 @ 10:52 am
Yep. I mostly agree with you. Where I disagree, is when you say injection-related deaths are rare.
Compared to deaths related to injections for other illnesses, deaths related to the Covid jabs, are most definitely not rare.
March 24, 2022 @ 2:22 pm
Clot victims due to the vaccine are a daily occurrence at my local hospital as doctors there have admitted.
July 26, 2022 @ 3:41 am
She died from a punctured lung when she was having a cosmetic procedure done, the autopsy revealed that the doctor was the one that caused it.
March 24, 2022 @ 5:04 am
Weak fucking comment, dude.
March 24, 2022 @ 9:31 pm
Take that garbage to Facebook and away from here.
March 23, 2022 @ 7:05 pm
Major Love & Big Bear Hugs to Hank Jr., Sam, & all of the family & friends, of Mary.
♥️????
March 23, 2022 @ 7:33 pm
Tony,, it was a medical procedure followed by a blood clot.. She probably had a massive blood clot to hit her heart. Things like that happen more often than people realize being that I am a retired med. professional. Do not read anything else into this. Praying for the family and for Mary Jane to rest in peace. God bless them.
March 24, 2022 @ 2:10 pm
Something similar happened to wrestler Scott Hall last week.
RIP to both.
March 25, 2022 @ 7:19 pm
Yes. Nothing to see here, folks. After all a retired med professional says so. The incidences of people dying from clots have exploded worldwide, but Pris says there’s nothing to it, so were good. ????
I’ll stick with the thousands of other medical professionals who are not retired and are sounding the alarm.
I better stop before Trigger’s head explodes and he starts censoring my posts. Lol.
March 23, 2022 @ 7:39 pm
This is heartbreaking mother & daughter in less than 2 years. My heart goes out to Hank Jr. & Sam thoughts & prayers to the Williams Family.
March 23, 2022 @ 9:15 pm
Whatever was going on with the Conservatorship, Sam was clearly having a hard time with the death of his sister. Now he loses him mom. Just terrible.
March 23, 2022 @ 7:53 pm
Prayers to Hank and Sam. Regardless of anyone’s thoughts, the past couple of years are unimaginable for anyone.
March 23, 2022 @ 8:54 pm
I had just read this at another site. Crazy. I feel really bad for the family. I don’t know why people always got to throw shade when something like this happens without facts. I pray for the families involved.
March 24, 2022 @ 5:41 am
Absolutely terrible. My thoughts are with the Williams family.
March 24, 2022 @ 5:59 am
God bless Mr. Hank Williams Junior and his family at this time of grieving. Everybody needs to stay out of their business and just send prayers and it’s none of anybody else’s business to be talking about it it’s in your prayers and that’s enough he’s gone through so much she just lost his daughter not long ago now he is a sauce his wife everybody needs to mind their own business.
March 24, 2022 @ 9:57 am
The tragedies around this family are mind numbing. Thoughts and prayers to Hank and his family.
March 24, 2022 @ 11:16 am
The fact that some people are trying to read into something that literally happened two days ago is just sickening to me. We may have questions, but we don’t DESERVE those answers right now. A family is grieving a terrible loss. Let’s show some basic humanity and not try to turn this into something.
March 25, 2022 @ 7:23 pm
Yes, God forbid anyone get to the truth of the matter. Unfortunately, Hank is a public figure, a life he chose. Right or wrong, anything that happens to him is media fodder, and people will speculate. You might want to turn on the Disney channel and stay off the internet.
March 28, 2022 @ 8:08 am
You might want to get a life.
March 24, 2022 @ 1:06 pm
Omg Bochepus he is still reeling from the death of Katie a beautiful human being now Mary Jane how much more can he take. He just started touring again. Prayers to the Willams family
March 24, 2022 @ 4:24 pm
Lord please be with Hank and family!
March 24, 2022 @ 5:37 pm
So much tragedy in that family. My heart goes out to them.
Incidentally, It’s “Daytona Beach”, not “Dayton Beach”.
March 24, 2022 @ 11:08 pm
Hey Trigger I notice you wrote in the article that Mary Jane was his third wife… actually she was his fourth, his wife’s names as follow are…
1.)Sharon
2.) Gwen
3.) Becky
4.) Mary Jane
I know if you do a quick Google search it reads he has 3 wife’s but that’s not true I own a couple of biography documentaries on him one being CMT’s inside fame from 1999 & they say he had 4 wife’s. I’m not mad about this or nothing, I know this was just an honest mistake.
He married Sharon when he was making the movie a time to sing, he wanted to bring her on set with him but the producers denied it so he decided he would marry her so they couldn’t say no. He would start seeing Gwen while still married to Sharon just days after his & Sharon’s divorce was finalized he would marry Gwen.
March 25, 2022 @ 10:35 am
You are correct. The story has been updated.
April 11, 2022 @ 1:18 pm
Four wives is correct, don’t know where the three comes from. Guess people forgot first wife Sharon.
March 25, 2022 @ 6:39 pm
Prayers for hank William and son sam. It’s hard to bare such a tragic loss of a daughter and now a wife. God give them strength to get thru this and try to live there lives peacefully . Your number one fan in Glendale , california
May 4, 2022 @ 6:42 pm
Agreed. My heart goes out to hank
March 26, 2022 @ 7:27 am
Prayers are with Hank and Sam. Lord, give them both strength. Let’s all have respect and compassion.
March 26, 2022 @ 11:15 am
I have tickets for Hank William’s, Jr. show in Southaven, Ms. on April 1st. I have not received a cancellation notice. Can you tell me if the concert is still scheduled? So sorry to hear of their family loss of his wife. I read where he said music was therapy. Praying for her family.
March 29, 2022 @ 12:26 pm
Hi I just saw a post of Facebook Hank said thank you all the prayers his family has encouraged him to still do the concert this weekend he doesn’t want to disappoint his fans. I thought you would like to know . I just hope it’s not a Scam. Good luck go on Facebook.
March 26, 2022 @ 12:58 pm
Hank & Sam I’m so sorry for your loss only 2 years ago you lost your daughter Katie & now your wife Mary Jane my prayers are with you & your family I know you are going through a horrible greavence at this time. Time heals all wounds. God Bless
March 28, 2022 @ 7:35 pm
Obviously you have never lost someone you truly loved body and soul…time does not heal those wounds…only your last breath heals those losses.
March 29, 2022 @ 7:58 am
I want to reply to the message I sent I received a response from savingcountrymusic.com that is why I sent them a message I was not sending it to the Williams family.
March 29, 2022 @ 9:43 am
I don’t appreciate your response I was giving the Williams family my condolences. I have lost alot of family members in my family if you will read my posts you will see I thought it came from saving country music I owe them an apology witch I’m going to send. Do say I have ever lost someone in my life you don’t know how painful it is I was trying to send the Williams family my condolences so I don’t appreciate your comments. My husband & I were married for 47 years happily when he passed in 2016. If you don’t have anything to say nice don’t post anything.
March 27, 2022 @ 3:22 am
Love and prayers to the family. May God give all of you the strength to persevere. Prayers.
March 29, 2022 @ 7:52 am
I don’t appreciate your response back to me Obviously you have never lost someone. I have new for you I have lost my Husband 6 years ago my husband’s brother 10 months ago my sister in- law my parents my brother & my sister. My daughter in- law. I am a Christian I go to church every week & I have been Babtized. I was trying to say something nice to Hank Jr & Sam about the loss of his Wife & Sam losing his mom. I was giving my condolences to the family. So please don’t assume I have not lost someone in my family that was not kind at all. God Bless
March 29, 2022 @ 9:47 am
This is for saving country music I apology to you on the response I sent you it came from another person on this site. I sent her a response to her post that I was not happy with her at all for her post. Thank you
March 29, 2022 @ 9:49 am
Hey Sharon,
No reason for an apology. She was probably just a troll. You comment was thoughtful and respectful, and did not deserve that kind of response. You were right to be perturbed and respond.
March 29, 2022 @ 9:52 am
Thank you for getting back to me so fast I was very hurt by her response some people are so mean. Thank you for understanding & your kind words. God Bless
May 2, 2022 @ 3:54 pm
I am truly sorry for your loss. May God be with you during this time. My Prayers are with you and your family.
July 26, 2022 @ 3:50 am
After an autopsy was done the cause of death was a punctured lung, turns out that the doctor did it during the procedure. Super tragedy happening during a super routine process. The doctor should be investigated by the authorities, and even a private investigator from the family should be involved. God rest her soul.