Janna Lou Little Boren

Janna Lou Little was born on November 30, 1944, in Oklahoma City to Reuel and Oteka Little. Her parents ran a foundation for children who were deaf or had cleft palates. She was raised in Madill, Oklahoma, attended the Hockaday School, and graduated from Boston University in 1967.^[1] She later married David L. Boren in 1968.^[2] She worked as a French and English teacher as David started his political career. Boren campaigned for her husband in 1974 by leading “Boren’s Broom Brigade” and selling brooms across the state while promising to clean up politics.^[1]

Boren served as the 18th First Lady of Oklahoma in 1975.^[3] She announced her divorce from David Boren later that year, finalized it in 1976, and married John Clinton Robbins.^[2] In 1996 she was diagnosed with colon cancer and she died on May 25, 1998.^[1] She had two children, including Dan Boren and Carrie Boren Headington.^[2][4][5]