REDLANDS, CALIF. -- Glynn "Scotty" Wolfe, a flamboyant, Bible-thumping minister who held the Guinness Book of Records title as the most-married man for more than 35 years, died of heart disease June 10 at a nursing home. He was 88.
He died 10 days before his first wedding anniversary with his 29th wife, Linda Essex-Wolfe, the world's most-married woman, with 23 husbands. They had planned to renew their vows today.
Even though they lived apart -- she in Indiana, he in California -- their 11-month marriage lasted longer than some of their others. Mr. Wolfe's shortest was 19 days, while Essex-Wolfe once ended a marriage after 36 hours. Both of their longest marriages lasted seven years.
Mr. Wolfe left one wife because she ate sunflower seeds in bed and divorced another because she used his toothbrush, said Vickki Wolfe, a daughter-in-law.
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Now, Mr. Wolfe's body lies unclaimed at the San Bernardino County morgue, spokesman Tom Dewhirst said. If no one steps forward to claim him this week, he will be cremated by the county and buried in a collective grave.
The 56-year-old Essex-Wolfe, calling collect from a pay phone outside a grocery store in her home town of Anderson, Ind., told the Press-Enterprise of Riverside that she can't afford her husband's burial.
"I wish I could," she said, "but I don't have the money. That's what's really hurting me."
Mr. Wolfe attracted worldwide attention last year when he wed Essex-Wolfe. They were introduced in Blythe, Calif., his home town, by the National Enquirer in 1989. At the time, he was married to a 17-year-old from the Philippines.
"As soon as I saw him, I knew I cared for him," Essex-Wolfe said. "He was a charmer. He married a lot of beautiful women, a lot of young women."
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They spent only one week together last year before getting hitched in front of cameras for a British documentary about marriage. Mr. Wolfe rarely shied away from the spotlight, with appearances on "Donahue" and other television talk shows.
Unwilling to leave her home town, the bride flew back to Indiana. Unwilling to venture into the cold, the groom remained in California. They stayed in touch by writing letters.
Essex-Wolfe was trying to find a way back to California for their first anniversary when she found out he had died.
Mr. Wolfe was sent to Brookside Healthcare Center in Redlands in July 1996 after a bout with pneumonia, said social services director Peter Duncan. He also suffered from coronary disease and seizures.
A son, John Wolfe, said he would like to give his father a proper burial. "It's just, I can't afford any funeral," he said.
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"Regretfully, my job doesn't pay a whole lot," said Wolfe, 33, who works at a Burger King.
Mr. Wolfe died "with $336 to his name," which will be used to pay for his cremation, Duncan said. John Wolfe said he may ask the county for the ashes.
And Essex-Wolfe plans to honor her husband in a way he surely would have appreciated -- by talking about their marriage on television.
Besides his wife, Mr. Wolfe is survived by 19 children, at least 40 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
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