The Original Maverick
By: Elizabeth Ireland

Roberta McCain, Senator John McCain's 96-year-old mother, is a twin, still drives, and has a great story about eloping above a bar in Tijuana, Mexico.  The Republican Presidential nominee's resilience and feistiness may have a lot to do with genes.

You have probably noticed the spry, gray haired beauty seated among the McCains throughout the past few days of convention coverage.  No, that's not Senator John McCain's sister, it's his 96-year-old mother Roberta.  The Republican Presidential candidate's resilience and feistiness may have a lot to do with genetics.

Roberta McCain has traveled the country campaigning on behalf of her son.  Her means of travel?  A red BMW.  Yes, she still drives, according to a recent Vogue Magazine article.  In fact, just eight years ago, she drove all over Europe with her twin sister, Rowena Willis.  It seems that honesty, a strong sense of self, character, humor and simply, adventure, really drive her too.

Roberta is the daughter of a Los Angeles oil wildcatter and widow of a high-ranking naval admiral who died in 1981.  She has three children and spent much of her life living in ports ranging from Panama to Hawaii to London.  "I'm happiest wherever I am right this minute," she told Vogue Magazine.
 

Possibly the root of Senator McCain's "straight talk," Roberta is rumored to have flown the Tawainese flag out her apartment window in Washington, D.C. facing the Chinese embassy, on the anniversary of the Communist Party's victory in the Chinese Civil War.  This was during her son's Presidential run in 2000.

Her 96th birthday wasn't too long ago.  She and her twin sister were born on February 7, 1912, to Myrtle and Archie Wright.  Roberta credits her own health to her California upbringing and good genes (her father remained active until he died of cancer at 98).  

The family eventually settled in Los Angeles where at age 19, Roberta eloped in Tijuana, Mexico, with Jack McCain, a navy ensign.  She left with her schoolbooks and they were married in a room above Caesar's Bar.  This caused a riff with her family and Roberta admitted to Vogue that it may not have been the best idea.  "I realize now it was immature. I took life as it came, still do," Roberta said.

As her husband climbed the naval ranks, Roberta was exposed to more and more of the world and the glamorous life.  She became good friends with J. Paul Getty and Clare Boothe Luce.  

While living in London, she learned that her son "Johnny" had been shot down in Vietnam and relied on her faith to get her through the next five years.  In his memoir, Faith of My Fathers, Senator John McCain writes that his mother filled the role of both parents and he emulates and exaggerates her characteristics.  

Senator John McCain is undoubtedly his "mother's son" and will bring much of her spirit to the White House if elected in November.