Jane Dobbins Green Was Ray Kroc’s Wife for 5 Years – Meet Her

Jane Dobbins Green is the second ex-wife of Ray Kroc, the late American businessman. Green, who was born on November 22, 1911, and passed away on August 7, 2000, in Los Angeles County, California, at the age of 88, rose to fame following her marriage to Ray Kroc, the man credited with being the inspiration behind the multinational fast-food chain McDonald’s.

Jane Dobbins Green Early Life

Jane Dobbins Green was born on November 22, 1911, in Walla Walla, Washington, United States, to Warren David Dobbins and Grace Myrtle Duncan Frechette. She was an American citizen of Caucasian roots and belonged to the Saggitarius birth sign. Information on Jane’s early years is hard to come by because she always kept her early years private. What her parents did for a living is scarce, but they ended their marriage when Jane was still younger.

There were no details on whether her father remarried, but her mother moved on and got married to Theodore Frechette on May 23, 1922, when Jane was eleven years old. Even though Jane shared a house with her mother and stepfather, it’s possible that she remained close to her biological father. Meanwhile, further details on whether she is an only child or has other siblings are not known.

Since she always kept details about her early life off records, she never made information about her educational background known. Further details on the names and locations of the schools that she attended, as well as her highest level of education, are scarce.

How Long was Jane Dobbins Ray Kroc’s Wife?

Jane Dobbins Green and Ray Kroc’s marriage only lasted for five years. Although the exact date of Jane Dobbins Green and Ray Kroc’s first meeting is unknown, it is reasonable to believe that they dated for some time before they got married. They got married on February 23, 1963, in a small church ceremony in Illinois. The couple got married when Ray’s fame had skyrocketed due to his success at McDonald’s.`

However, despite having a promising start, they had marital problems that ultimately led to their split. Their marriage lasted just five years before they pulled the final string on their union.

What Caused Ray Kroc and Jane Dobbins to Divorce?

Ray Kroc and Jane Dobbins divorced as a result of Ray Kroc’s extramarital affair. Though Jane would have preferred for her union with Ray Kroc to last longer, everyone was shocked to learn of their quick five-year divorce. They parted ways for a well-known cause that involved Ray’s then-mistress, whom he eventually took as his third wife.

Ray Krock was reportedly having a secret affair with Joan Beverly Kroc, nee Mansfield, while he was still married to his first wife, Ethel, long before he met Jane. According to multiple reports, their affair all started in 1957, after Ray met Joan Kroc in St. Paul, Minnesota. Despite their extreme age gap, as Ray was 52 years old at the time and Joan was only 28 years old, he was so enthralled by her beauty that he fell in love with her. While Ray Kroc was still with his first ex-wife, Joan was married to Rawland F. Rollie Smith, with whom she shared a daughter, Linda Smith.

Sometime after their first encounter, Ray and Joan Kroc soon began dating. They dated for some years and the fact that Joan Kroc was still married to Rollie Smith and had a daughter did not bother them because they were so much in love. Ray divorced his first wife, Ethel, in 1961, ending their 39-year marriage.

After his divorce from his first wife, he asked Joan to move in with him, but she refused due to the pressure from her family to end their relationship. With everything going on, they ended their relationship and moved on. Following that, Ray moved on and got married to Jane Dobbins, making it his second marriage.

However, after Joan was invited to a 1969 McDonald’s conference by the chairman of the company, their marriage fell apart as Jane began suspecting he was still having an affair with Joan. After the incident, Ray and Joan started dating again, and this time, their love stood for them, making the lovers ditch their spouses to get married to each other eventually. Meanwhile, details on whether the divorce was peaceful or messy were not revealed. Further information on the divorce settlements was also concealed from the media.

Jane Dobbins Green’s Second Marriage

Jane Dobbins Green’s second marriage was to Paul D. Whitney. She got married to her second husband seventeen years after divorcing her first husband. Jane kept her second marriage away from the limelight, and as such, many details about her husband are not known. This includes his birth details, what he did for a living and his past relationships.

On the other hand, how they met and when they started dating are unavailable, but they got married in 1984 and remained together until Jane passed away in 2000. Paul J. is likewise no longer alive at this time, as he passed away on January 16, 2008, at the age of 80. He was buried next to Jane’s grave in Westwood Memorial Park in Westwood, Los Angeles.

Did Jane Dobbins Green Have Any Children?

According to various sources, Jane Dobbins Green reportedly didn’t welcome any children into her two marriages. Though she did not welcome any biological children, she was a stepmother to Marilyn Kroc Barg, whom her former husband Ray welcomed with his first ex-wife. Further details on whether she maintained a good relationship with her stepdaughter before her death are not known.

Is Ray Kroc Still Alive?

Sadly, Jane Dobbins Green’s ex-husband is no longer alive, as he died as a result of a number of serious illnesses that he suffered during his lifetime. According to reports, he had diabetes and arthritis, among other incurable conditions, when he was between fifty and fifty-five years old. He eventually had to have the majority of his gallbladder and thyroid glands removed.

After suffering a stroke in 1980, he was admitted to an alcohol treatment center. He passed away from heart failure four years after his stroke on January 14, 1984, at the age of 81 in a hospital in San Diego, California. Ray Kroc was interred in the El Camino Memorial Park in Sorrento Valley, San Diego.

Who Was Ray Kroc’s First Wife?

Ray Kroc’s first wife was Ethel Fleming, an American actress. She was born in Ohio, United States, on December 25, 1890, to Janet and Alexander Frew Fleming. Ethel spent a portion of her childhood in Melrose Park, Cook County, Illinois, and was raised in Ohio with her six siblings.

Her parents’ occupations as well as what her siblings are u to were not mentioned. She did, however, have her high school at Oak Park’s Lincoln School, the same high school, that Ray Kroc attended. After that, she started a career as an actress and performer, becoming well-known for her parts in classic films including Under Cover (1916), The Wonderful Thing (1921), and The Kiss (1916). Meanwhile, she quit acting years before her divorce from Ray Kroc to face her motherly duties.

It has been reported that Ethel and Ray first met in 1919 and dated for three years before deciding to tie the knot in 1922. Further details of whether they had a glamorous wedding or not were not revealed. At that time, Ethel Fleming was already a sought-after actress, and people saw that their marriage was not based on class but on their affectionate past from high school.

Their marriage lasted many years, and their union was blessed with a girl named Marilyn Kroc in 1924. Their marriage crumbled after almost forty years together, and they got divorced in 1961, but nothing is known about their divorce process or settlements. Meanwhile, while her marriage to Ray Kroc was her second marriage, it was the businessman’s first marriage as of then. This is based on the fact that she was previously married to William Courtleigh Jr. in 1915 and remained his wife until his death in 1918.

What Happened to Ray Kroc’s First Wife?

Ethel Fleming died on December 26, 1965, in Miami, Florida, United States, due to natural causes. Her death came a day after she turned 75 years old. Prior to her death, she maintained a relatively low profile after her divorce from her ex-husband. As a result, what she did for a living as well as her whereabouts were concealed until she died and was buried.

Is Ray Kroc’s Wife Still Alive?

Ray Kroc’s wife, Joan, passed away from brain cancer on October 12, 2003, in a Rancho Santa Fe, California, hospital. Later, Joan Kroc’s remains were put to rest alongside her husband in El Camino Memorial Park in Sorrento Valley, San Diego, California.

How Much Did Ray Kroc’s Wife Get?

After Jane Dobbins Green’s ex-husband passed away in 1984, his third wife, Joan Kroc, received $500 million and left an inheritance worth millions when she passed away two decades later. Joan gave back to society from her inheritance and gave millions of dollars to research during the height of the AIDS epidemic. She also donated $15 million in relief contributions when a flood devastated much of Grand Forks, North Dakota, on the condition that she stay secret.

Joan further donated millions of dollars, mostly in secret, to the Democratic Party, Greenpeace, hospitals, theaters, domestic violence shelters, homeless centers, drug misuse organizations, and medical research for years following Ray’s passing. The specifics of Joan’s will were made public many weeks after her passing. Her will of $1.5 billion given to the Salvation Army is by far the largest donation the charity has ever received. In addition, she bequeathed $190 million to NPR, but by the time the donation was given, the total had risen to $225 million.

Sixty million dollars were to be distributed among the one hundred and sixty Ronald McDonald Houses. Joan erected two peace centers, each costing fifty million dollars, while San Diego Hospice was to receive twenty million dollars. $10 million was donated to the opera she previously left during and the [San Diego] zoo, respectively. Joan gave all these out because she wanted the name Kroc to be remembered for giving, and not just for the famous McDonald’s hamburgers.

Did Joan Kroc’s Daughter Inherit Anything? 

According to various reports, Joan Kroc’s daughter, Linda Smith, is thought to have inherited little or nothing from Ray Kroc’s holdings. Joan Kroc had Linda Smith from her previous marriage to Rawland F. Rollie Smith before she married Ray Kroc. Due to the fact that Ray and Joan were childless, Linda Smith became the Kroc family heiress. It makes sense that she would inherit many of her stepfather’s possessions, given the enormous success he left behind following his passing.

However, a number of publications stated that Linda Smith didn’t receive any. For years after Ray’s death, her mother, Joan Kroc, gave away practically everything he left to the Democratic Party, hospitals, drug abuse organizations, medical research, and other deserving causes.

Jane Dobbins Green’s Net Worth

Some reports had it that Jane Dobbins Green’s net worth was approximately $1 million when she passed away. Further details of what she did for a living and how successful she was were not revealed. This made it a daunting task to ascertain how she was about to make such a whopping sum. Meanwhile, according to some sources, her socialite profession was the main source of her wealth, and she may have added to it with the compensation she received from wealthy Ray following their divorce.

Since there were no details of her divorce settlements, the exact amount that she inherited from him is scarce. In contrast, her ex-husband’s wealth was $600 million at the time of his passing, which is valued at $1.4 billion at the moment. This has further earned him a spot on the list of America’s richest people as of then.

Is Jane Dobbins Green Alive?

Jane Dobbins Green is no longer alive. According to various reports, she gave up the ghost on August 7, 2000, at the age of 88. Details of the cause of the death are not known, but there were no reports of any ailment. Her body was reportedly buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles County.