Frank Sinatra’s teenage sweetheart Nancy – the first of four wives and mother of his children, Nancy Jr, Frank Jr and Tina – has passed away at the age of 101. Their daughter, Nancy Sinatra Jr, posted on social media to say her mother had passed away peacefully at 6:02 p.m. on Friday and that she had been a blessing and the light of her life.

The couple met when Frank was 19 and Nancy was 17 and they were married on February 4, 1939, in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Nancy and Frank Sinatra meet as teenagers and fall in love

As reported by the Birmingham Mail, Frank, then 19, and Nancy Barbato, then 17, met in 1934 at Long Branch, New Jersey.

It was love at first sight and they were almost immediately engaged. They married on February 4, 1939, at a time when Frank’s singing career was taking off. Three years prior to their marriage, Frank managed to get a 15-minute radio show on a local station.

As reported by The Guardian, initially the couple lived in an apartment in Jersey City and had their first two children. Nancy worked as a secretary, while Frank had a job as a singing waiter. In the 1940s, Frank achieved fame as a singer and they moved to Los Angeles where they later had their daughter Tina.

Frank also went on to become a Film star and a notorious womanizer. After he had an affair with Ava Gardner, the couple split.

The Sinatras split after Frank Sinatra's affair with Ava Gardner

Their divorce went through in 1951 and Frank went on to marry Gardner, while Nancy raised their three children alone. Nancy went on to dedicate her life to her three children while having several friends in the celebrity world.

She is said to have stayed friends with her former husband, especially as Frank regularly requested her to cook Italian food dishes for him, as she was an expert in that field.

Nancy never remarried but went on to outlive Frank, who passed away in 1998, and sadly also her son Frank Jr, who died in 2016.

Nancy Jr's fame leads to the mother being dubbed Nancy Sr

While Nancy spent time in the celebrity world, according to IMDb, Nancy Sinatra only made two film and TV appearances during her long life. One was in Nancy Jr’s 1975 musical film, “Nancy and Lee in Las Vegas” and the other was on a talk show with her good friend Dinah Shore. After her daughter, Nancy Jr achieved fame in the musical scene in the 1960s with her song, “These Boots and Made for Walking” and other hits, the elder Nancy became known as Nancy Sr.

RIP to a lovely lady.
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