Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s wife, Gwen, is a teacher like him.
The two met as young high school teachers working in temporary classrooms in Nebraska.
Gwen could hear Tim’s loud voice through the wall of her classroom and at first it bothered her. According to the Star Tribune.
But still, the relationship blossomed.
Shortly after meeting, Gwen and Tim organized a summer trip to China for their students.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (left) and his wife Gwen (center right) have two children: Hope (center left), who is now a college graduate, and Gus (right), who is currently in high school.
Gwen Walz (second from right, in white jacket) is a teacher like her husband. The two met when they were both teaching in a public high school in temporary classrooms in Nebraska and Tim’s voice was too loud.
Gwen Walz (left) and Tim Walz (right) on primary night in August 2018. Walz won the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party primary and then went on to win the general election.
They took students abroad nearly every summer until 2003, according to the Minnesota first lady’s office.
The couple married in 1997.
Gwen struggled with infertility and was a patient at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, before giving birth to the couple’s oldest daughter, Hope, in January 2021.
Minnesota’s first lady turned to IVF to conceive, something she could bring up on the campaign trail as some conservative-leaning courts look to restrict this type of fertility treatment.
Hope is a recent college graduate and a vegetarian, which she discussed in a recent viral video of her father trying to convince her to try a turkey leg at the Minnesota State Fair.
The couple also have a son named Gus, who is currently in high school.
Gus was behind the Walzes’ decision to rescue their dog, a Labrador mix named Scout.
Gwen said at Scout’s introductory press conference: “I had not been part of that negotiation.”
Gwen Walz (left), with her husband, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (center), and their daughter Hope (right)
President Joe Biden greets Gov. Tim Walz’s mother Darlene (left) and his wife Gwen (right) during a visit to Minnesota in May 2022
They also have a rescue cat named Honey, whom they adopted after their cat Afton wandered off after they moved to Eastcliff, normally the home of the University of Minnesota president but which serves as a temporary residence for the governor while the governor’s mansion undergoes renovations.
Gwen is a native of Minnesota and grew up in the western part of the state with three sisters.
As first lady, she has been an advocate for education, including for those incarcerated.
She is politically liberal like her husband and supports criminal justice reform initiatives and is an ally of the LGBTQ community, her biography as Minnesota first lady says.