Neilia Biden

Neilia Hunter Biden (July 28, 1942 – December 18, 1972) was an American teacher and the first wife of Joe Biden, the 46th and current president of the United States. She died in a car crash in 1972 with their one-year-old daughter, Naomi. Their two sons, Beau and Hunter, were critically injured but survived the incident. Her death occurred 6 weeks after her husband's election to the U.S. Senate.

Neilia Hunter was born on July 28, 1942, in Auburn, New York, to Louise (née Basel; 1916–1992) and Robert Hunter (1914–1990) who were Presbyterians. She attended Penn Hall, a secondary boarding school in Pennsylvania. She was active in the school's French club, field hockey, swimming and student council. After secondary school, she attended Syracuse University and was a school teacher in the Syracuse City School District. She was an English teacher at the Bellevue Academy in Syracuse, New York. She was related to former Auburn city councilman Robert Hunter.

Neilia Hunter met Joe Biden in Nassau, The Bahamas, while they were both on spring break. Shortly after, Biden moved to Syracuse to be closer to her and attended law school. The couple married on August 27, 1966. After Biden graduated from law school, the Bidens moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where Biden was on the New Castle County Council. The couple had three children: Joseph Robinette "Beau", Robert Hunter and Naomi Christina "Amy". While Biden campaigned to unseat U.S. Delaware Senator J. Caleb Boggs, Neilia was described by The News Journal as the "brains" of his campaign.

On December 18, 1972, shortly after Joe became U.S. senator-elect, Neilia was driving with her three children west along rural Valley Road in Hockessin, Delaware. At the intersection with Delaware Route 7 (Limestone Road), their vehicle pulled out in front of a tractor-trailer truck traveling north along Route 7 and was hit by the tractor-trailer. Police determined that Neilia drove into the path of the tractor-trailer, possibly due to visibility issues. The truck driver, identified as Curtis C. Dunn, 33, of Avondale, Pennsylvania, escaped without any major injury. All four occupants were taken to Wilmington General Hospital, where Neilia and Naomi were pronounced dead on arrival; Beau and Hunter both survived with multiple serious injuries. Two weeks after the crash, Joe was sworn into the Senate at the hospital, where Beau and Hunter were being treated. Neilia and Naomi were buried in St. Joseph on the Brandywine Cemetery in Greenville, Delaware.

In a commencement speech at Yale University in 2015, Joe Biden, then serving as Vice President of the United States in the administration led by Barack Obama, spoke of his wife, saying, "The incredible bond I have with my children is the gift I'm not sure I would have had, had I not been through what I went through [after the fatal crash]. But by focusing on my sons, I found my redemption."

A park in a suburban area of unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, outside the city of Wilmington, Neilia Hunter Biden Park, is dedicated in her memory. Cayuga Community College in Auburn, New York, where Neilia's father ran the food service operation for many years, annually confers the Neilia Hunter Biden Award on two graduates, one for journalism and one for English literature. Among the early winners was William "Bill" Fulton, who later served as mayor of Ventura, California.

A memorial plaque was erected at Bellevue Elementary School in Syracuse in Neilia's memory. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources

• Ancestry.com. New York State, Birth Index, 1881-1942 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
  • Name: Neilia Hunter; Birth Date: 28 Jul 1942; Birth Place: Auburn, New York, USA; Certificate Number: 53377.
• "Neilia Hunter Biden." FindAGrave, published 10 January 2013. < link > Accessed 8 December 2023.
• "Neilia Hunter Biden." Wikipedia, revision of 7 October 2023. < link > Accessed 22 October 2023.
• Talorico, Patricia and Meredith Newman. "Joe Biden lost his wife and baby daughter 50 years ago. It changed the course of his life." The Delaware News Journal, published 14 December 2022. < link > Accessed 8 December 2023.
• "Who Is Joe Biden's First Wife, Neilia Hunter, And What Happened To Her?" Women's Health, published 29 September 2020. < link > Accessed 22 October 2023.