Getty Dr. Ben Carson with his wife, Lacena "Candy" Carson.
Lacena “Candy” Rustin is the wife of Ben Carson who serves as the United States Secretary of Housing and Development. They met when they were attending Yale University in 1971 even though they both hail from the same hometown of Detroit, Michigan, Bustle reported. She’s been married to the accomplished neurosurgeon since 1975 and they have three sons together, Benjamin Jr., Murray and Rhoeyce.
Carson, who got her nickname due to her love of sweets, grew up poor in Detroit she told ABC. Her mother, a teacher, played the organ at their church and made sure she and her four siblings learned how to play instruments (more on that below). Her father was a factory worker.
In 1994, the couple founded the Carson Scholars Fund, Inc. to address educational issues in the U.S. According to the organization’s website, they award 500 scholarships annually. This year, seven students were awarded with scholarships and had a virtual banquet in May for the recipients according to Sidney Daily News. Through their Ben Carson Reading Project, they have been able to put 231 “Ben Carson Reading Rooms” where children can go and read at schools in 23 states and Washington D.C their website stated.
Dr. Carson isn’t the only one with a long list of accomplishments. Here’s what you need to know about Mrs. Carson:
1. Carson is a Musician
Candy Carson, 67, is musically inclined. According to The Hill, she studied classical violin and received a scholarship to Yale University. Carson also played in the Yale Symphony Orchestra and the Yach Bach Society. She also formed a quartet with her three sons and deemed themselves the Carson Four. In 2014 when Dr. Carson announced he was going to run for president at the Music Hall Center for Performing Arts, his wife played “The Star-Spangled Banner” on the violin, Bustle noted. She even gave away a Christmas album, A Very Candy Christmas, for free in 2016 during Trump’s campaign run, The List reported.
2. Mrs. Carson Was a Triple-Major at Yale University
After being accepted to Yale on a scholarship, Carson took on three majors: music, pre-medicine and psychology, according to the National Review. Carson told the Herald Net that was in awe when she began attending the prestigious university.
“Going to Yale, it was a totally new experience in the sense that I came from Detroit,” she said. “But the school’s architecture was ‘incredible’ and you’re trying to be cool because for most people there, it didn’t faze them at all. But I kept thinking, ‘Wow, this is so cool. All of these things I’d only read about.’ Sterling Library had so many wonderful kinds of books. We always went to libraries when we were growing up. We didn’t have a lot of money so mom would always take us to libraries. We practically lived there, you know? And we’d get as many books as we could.”
She also has a master’s degree in business administration from Johns Hopkins University, where her husband served as the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery before retiring in 2013. She also served as conductor for the University of Maryland Medical Center Chamber Players, the National Review also reported.
3. She Co-Authored 4 Books With Dr. Carson
Getty
Carson has written three books with Dr. Carson: the New York Times bestseller One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future, America the Beautiful, A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties and A Doctor in the House: My Life With Ben Carson, according to Amazon. Dr. Carson is an author as well and has written six books including an autobiography Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential For Excellence, Take The Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose and Live with Acceptable Risk and The Big Picture.
4. Ben Carson Said He & Candy Carson Were Destined to Be Together After Near-Fatal Car Accident
Dr. Carson said he knew Candy Carson was the one for him after they had a near-death experience during their courtship. According to Bustle he often tells the story of when he had this revelation.
“I saw all these scenes from my life and I thought, “I’m gonna die.” And it just stopped on the shoulder, just in time before an 18-wheeler barreled by. And Candy awakened and said, “What happened?” … I explained what happened, and we said, “You know what? God spared our lives because he wants us to do something.”
Carson was also shocked by their survival.
“By all laws of physics we should have crashed, but the car stopped by itself,” she told Herald Net. “And we’re looking at each other like, ‘Thank God.’”
5. Carson Didn’t Want Her Husband to Run For President
Getty
In 2016, Dr. Carson began campaigning to become president, The Hill reported. Since Dr. Carson worked tireless days and nights at John Hopskins Hospital, his wife thought that once he retired in 2013 he would devote his time to her, their family and the Carson Fund. She told Fox News that she wasn’t too happy about his decision to enter politics.
“This is not something that I was looking to do,” Carson told Megyn Kelly of Fox during her husband’s campaign run. “After giving up my husband for 40 years to medicine, I really don’t want to give him up to our country.”
She added that he worked so much that she “felt like a single mom because he wasn’t around most of the time.” Their three sons didn’t hold that against him though. She told the Herald Net that “even though he wasn’t there a lot, the kids knew that he cared.”
Dr. Carson said when they became grandparents, she changed her mind.
“Candy was pretty against any foray into the political world for me — until we had grandchildren, and now she’s thinking about how they’re not going to have any future, if we don’t start thinking about what’s going on in this country,” he told Grand Magazine.
READ NEXT: How Was Kayla Mueller Killed?