By Ed Stoddard and Jessica Rinaldi
MEXIA, Texas (Reuters) - Nikki Hart stares out of the Mexia High School's 1985 year book, an attractive but unsmiling young woman with a sullen look.
Long-time teachers in this small Texas town "" >
By Ed Stoddard and Jessica Rinaldi
MEXIA, Texas (Reuters) - Nikki Hart stares out of the Mexia High School's 1985 year book, an attractive but unsmiling young woman with a sullen look.
Long-time teachers in this small Texas town -- population 6,563 -- vaguely recall the unspectacular student who grew up to be tabloid queen Anna Nicole Smith, Playboy Playmate and billionaire's widow who died on Thursday at the age of 39.
""I remember her but she went by Nikki Hart then. I really remember her more as the girl who worked at the fried chicken restaurant in town,"" said math teacher Glenn McGuire.
""It's not like we're proud, you don't see signs when you come into town saying 'This is the home of Anna Nicole Smith,'"" he said.
Born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Houston, Nikki Hart was one of the many names Smith acquired over the course of a tumultuous and tragic life that saw her outlive her son but not survive long enough to lay undisputed claim to the estate of her late husband, billionaire J. Howard Marshall.
And contrary to popular belief, it seems that she did not actually grow up in Mexia and only attended school there briefly. The perception of small-town girl who made it big was one she cultivated, her mother Virgie Arthur said on ABC's Good Morning America show.
Teachers at Mexia High School said transcripts showed that she had transferred there from a Houston school, attended at least one semester of ninth grade in Mexia, but did not complete a whole term of tenth grade. Continued...
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
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