Who Was Lois Driggs Cannon, Buzz Aldrin’s Ex-Wife? Her Full Story

Lois Driggs Cannon lived an adventurous life long before her name became connected with one of history’s most celebrated astronauts.

She was an educated American woman, former teacher, mother, traveler, philanthropist, and active partner in several professional and charitable activities.

Most people search for Lois because she was the third wife of Buzz Aldrin, the legendary Apollo 11 moonwalker.

Their 24-year marriage brought Lois into the public eye, but her own journey included education, European travel, motherhood, and business involvement.

Her story reveals the lesser-known woman behind the famous relationship, including her family background, first marriage, career, children, and later years.

Who Was Lois Driggs Cannon?

Lois Driggs Cannon was an American educator, philanthropist, business partner, mother, and social figure born on November 2, 1929.

She came from the prominent Driggs family and studied education before earning teaching credentials and beginning her professional life as a teacher.

Her first marriage was to Bryant W. Cannon, with whom she raised three children while living in Europe, Arizona, and California.

Her public profile increased considerably after she married astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 1988 and became closely involved with his professional activities.

Beyond being Aldrin’s former wife, Lois led an energetic life shaped by family, international experiences, charitable causes, sports, and personal independence.

Early Life and Family Background

Lois Adele Driggs was born on November 2, 1929, to Effie and Douglas H. Driggs during the beginning of the Great Depression.

She grew up within a well-established Arizona family whose history included business development, community involvement, and strong ties to the American West.

Her father helped establish Western Savings & Loan with members of his family in Phoenix shortly before the historic 1929 stock-market crash.

Despite difficult economic conditions across America, the family business survived and eventually expanded as Arizona experienced significant population and economic growth.

Lois grew up with siblings including Gary Driggs, Anne Driggs Christensen, and John Driggs, maintaining important family connections throughout her long life.

Childhood and Personality

Lois showed an energetic and outgoing personality during childhood, displaying interests that extended well beyond conventional academics and ordinary school activities.

She enjoyed playing boogie-woogie piano, performing in theatrical productions, and dancing while live swing bands provided popular entertainment during her youth.

Her lively personality occasionally brought newspaper attention, suggesting that she was comfortable participating in social and cultural activities from an early age.

While attending North Phoenix High School, the petite but energetic student became known by the memorable nickname “Mighty Mouse” among her peers.

These early experiences reflected qualities that remained visible later: enthusiasm, confidence, curiosity, resilience, sociability, and a willingness to explore new opportunities.

Education and College Years

Education played an important role in Lois Driggs Cannon’s early adulthood and eventually provided the foundation for her first professional career.

She initially attended the University of Utah before continuing her studies at Stanford University, one of America’s most respected private academic institutions.

At Stanford, Lois studied education and completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951, preparing herself for work within the teaching profession.

Rather than immediately settling into a predictable career, she also spent approximately nine months exploring Europe and experiencing different cultures and communities.

After returning, Lois obtained her teaching credential through UCLA, adding another major university to an educational journey spanning Utah and California.

Career as a Teacher

After completing her academic preparation, Lois entered education professionally and worked as a schoolteacher during the earlier period of her adult life.

She taught in Beverly Hills, California, placing her within one of the state’s most recognizable communities while developing practical classroom experience.

Lois also taught in Palo Alto, connecting another chapter of her professional life with the California region surrounding her former university environment.

Her teaching career receives less attention than her later marriage, although it demonstrates that Lois established an independent professional identity during young adulthood.

Education therefore remained an important part of her personal history before marriage, motherhood, international living, and business activities reshaped her daily responsibilities.

Lois Driggs Cannon Marriage to Bryant W. Cannon

In 1955, Lois Driggs married Bryant W. Cannon, beginning the first major family chapter of her adult life after completing her education.

The couple married in an LDS temple in Mesa, Arizona, before their life together eventually took them far beyond the American Southwest.

Bryant’s professional work with major technology companies IBM and ITT resulted in the family spending approximately a decade living throughout Europe.

During those European years, Lois became a mother to two daughters while balancing family responsibilities with the experience of living internationally.

Their marriage lasted approximately 27 years, encompassing major moves, three children, international adventures, and their eventual home in Laguna Beach, California.

Life in Europe and International Adventures

Living in Europe became one of the most distinctive periods of Lois’s life, giving her experiences far removed from ordinary domestic routines.

Her family lived abroad while Bryant worked professionally, allowing Lois and their children to experience European communities, cultures, landscapes, and everyday lifestyles.

In 1962, Lois participated in an ambitious journey through inland European waterways aboard a Danish cabin cruiser measuring only about 24 feet.

The voyage traveled from the Baltic Sea toward the Mediterranean, demonstrating the adventurous spirit that repeatedly appeared throughout different stages of her life.

These experiences helped make travel, exploration, outdoor activity, and curiosity important themes within Lois’s story decades before her connection with space exploration.

Lois Driggs Cannon’s Children

Lois became the mother of three children during her marriage to Bryant Cannon: two daughters named Lisa and Brynn and son Bryant.

Her daughters were born during the family’s years in Europe, while her son arrived after the family had returned to Arizona.

Lisa Cannon later became particularly connected with the professional business surrounding Buzz Aldrin, working alongside her mother in managing his public interests.

Brynn Cannon established her life in Los Angeles, while available family information also identifies Bryant Cannon as Lois’s surviving son after her death.

Motherhood remained one of Lois’s central responsibilities through major relocations, marriage changes, professional activities, travel, philanthropy, and her later public life.

Life in Laguna Beach

Eventually, Lois and her first husband established themselves in Emerald Bay, Laguna Beach, an exclusive coastal community in Southern California’s Orange County.

Laguna Beach became particularly important in Lois’s life because she remained connected with the area through major personal and relationship changes afterward.

Her energetic lifestyle suited Southern California, where social activities, outdoor recreation, charitable organizations, and cultural events became important parts of her world.

She developed interests in skiing and tennis, two physically active pursuits that reflected the energetic personality she had demonstrated since her younger years.

The California chapter eventually created circumstances through which Lois would meet Buzz Aldrin and enter the most publicly recognized period of her life.

How Did Lois Driggs Cannon Meet Buzz Aldrin?

Lois met Buzz Aldrin around 1985, more than fifteen years after his historic Apollo 11 mission transformed him into an international figure.

Their meeting reportedly occurred through Southern California social circles, when both were already mature adults with significant life experiences behind them.

Lois was attracted to Aldrin personally rather than approaching him simply as an admirer fascinated by his famous journey to the Moon.

Their relationship developed as they attended events together, traveled, and shared recreational interests, while Lois introduced Aldrin to additional social and professional connections.

By the time they became engaged, their partnership was developing beyond romance into a relationship involving public appearances, professional ideas, and shared ambitions.

Marriage to Buzz Aldrin

Lois Driggs Cannon married Buzz Aldrin on February 14, 1988, choosing Valentine’s Day for a memorable beginning to their marriage together.

Their wedding took place in Phoenix, with the relationship joining two people whose backgrounds included business, international travel, family responsibilities, and public recognition.

For Buzz, Lois was his third wife, following his marriages to Joan Archer and Beverly Van Zile during earlier periods of his life.

Lois entered the marriage decades after Apollo 11, when Aldrin was developing a new professional identity beyond his accomplishments as a NASA astronaut.

Their relationship ultimately lasted about 24 years, making it one of the longest marriages of Aldrin’s life before ending in divorce.

Life With Buzz Aldrin

Marriage to Buzz Aldrin brought Lois into an unusual world involving aerospace discussions, speaking engagements, celebrity appearances, publishing opportunities, and international public attention.

She supported her husband while he developed projects centered on space exploration and transformed his extraordinary Apollo legacy into continuing professional opportunities.

Lois encouraged Buzz’s public ambitions and helped connect him with people who could expand his speaking, publishing, entertainment, and business possibilities.

Their personalities created an energetic partnership involving travel, social events, professional appearances, skiing, scuba diving, and continuing advocacy for future space exploration.

Over time, Lois became considerably more than an astronaut’s spouse because she participated directly in organizing and supporting the business surrounding Aldrin’s name.

Business Partnership With Buzz Aldrin

Lois played a significant behind-the-scenes role in developing the commercial and professional organization surrounding Buzz Aldrin after their marriage began.

Together, they built business activities around Aldrin’s historic accomplishments, public appearances, endorsements, speaking opportunities, intellectual property, and continuing space-exploration advocacy.

Lois became closely involved in maintaining the practical operations required to turn Aldrin’s public reputation into an organized long-term professional enterprise.

Her daughter Lisa Cannon also became involved, eventually playing an important role in Starbuzz, which managed Aldrin’s appearances, endorsements, and public image.

This professional partnership became an important part of their marriage and later contributed to complicated disagreements when their personal relationship began breaking down.

Her Influence on Buzz Aldrin’s Later Career

Lois entered Aldrin’s life when his greatest historical achievement was already behind him, but his public career still offered considerable future possibilities.

She encouraged him to communicate his ideas publicly and helped create opportunities that extended his identity beyond simply being an Apollo 11 astronaut.

During their years together, Aldrin remained active as an author, speaker, aerospace advocate, entrepreneur, and supporter of ambitious future human spaceflight projects.

Lois helped provide organizational support around that public career, allowing the couple to function as both marriage partners and professional collaborators.

Their partnership demonstrates why understanding Lois matters when examining the lesser-known personal and professional chapters of Aldrin’s long post-NASA career.

Philanthropy and Social Interests

Lois devoted part of her life to charitable, educational, cultural, and civic organizations rather than focusing exclusively on family or business activities.

Her charitable interests included organizations connected with libraries, arts, international affairs, scientific research, entertainment, education, and broader community-support initiatives.

Organizations associated with her philanthropic involvement included the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, World Affairs Council, American Film Institute, and ARCS Foundation.

She was also connected with the Blue Ribbon and the Thalians, further reflecting her participation within Southern California’s philanthropic and cultural circles.

These commitments reveal another dimension of Lois’s life, showing sustained interests in education, culture, scientific advancement, community engagement, and charitable giving.

Personal Interests and Lifestyle

Lois remained physically and socially active for much of her life, carrying the energetic personality of her youth into later adulthood.

Skiing became one of her notable recreational interests, and she introduced Buzz Aldrin to parts of the active lifestyle she already enjoyed.

She was also an enthusiastic tennis player, adding another sport to a lifestyle that included travel, outdoor activities, cultural events, and philanthropy.

Her earlier European travels and boating adventure likewise suggest someone comfortable with exploration, unfamiliar environments, physical challenges, and unconventional experiences throughout adulthood.

These interests make her connection with an explorer like Buzz Aldrin understandable, even though their personal backgrounds and paths to recognition differed considerably.

Divorce From Buzz Aldrin

After more than two decades together, the relationship between Lois and Buzz Aldrin deteriorated, leading Aldrin to file for divorce in June 2011.

The separation became complicated because their marriage and professional interests had become closely intertwined through businesses managing Aldrin’s image and commercial activities.

Disagreements developed involving Buzz, Lois, Lisa Cannon, and Starbuzz, producing legal disputes concerning business relationships, contracts, branding, and control of intellectual property.

Their divorce was eventually finalized on December 28, 2012, formally ending a marriage that had begun on Valentine’s Day in 1988.

The settlement involved financial arrangements and business interests, closing an important chapter that had combined marriage, family relationships, and professional collaboration for decades.

Life After Her Divorce

Following the divorce, Lois stepped away from the marriage that had made her name familiar to millions interested in Buzz Aldrin’s personal life.

She had already lived through several distinct chapters involving Arizona childhood, university education, teaching, European travel, motherhood, two marriages, and business management.

Her later years were quieter than the highly visible period when she accompanied Aldrin to events and participated in his professional organization.

Her children and extended family remained important parts of the personal legacy she had built independently from her association with the Apollo astronaut.

Rather than defining her entire story through divorce, her later life completed a much broader journey characterized by resilience, curiosity, family, activity, and independence.

Lois Driggs Cannon’s Net Worth

Lois Driggs Cannon lived within financially successful family and social environments and later participated in business activities surrounding Buzz Aldrin’s public career and image.

Her father helped establish Western Savings & Loan, while her marriage to Aldrin also involved commercial ventures, intellectual property, appearances, and endorsement-related income.

When her divorce from Aldrin was finalized, financial terms included division of marital assets along with continuing financial support and income-related arrangements.

Reports surrounding the settlement described monthly spousal support of $9,500 and a percentage of Aldrin’s annual income alongside division of certain assets.

Therefore, although exact personal wealth figures vary across online estimates, her financial position reflected family resources, marital assets, and significant divorce-settlement provisions.

Relationship With Her Family

Family remained central throughout Lois’s life, beginning with her upbringing as a member of the Driggs family and continuing through motherhood.

Her marriage to Bryant Cannon produced Lisa, Brynn, and Bryant, and she raised her children through periods spent in Europe, Arizona, and California.

Lisa later worked alongside Lois within Buzz Aldrin’s business organization, creating an unusual overlap between Lois’s family relationships and her second marriage.

Lois also maintained connections with siblings, including Gary Driggs and Anne Driggs Christensen, who survived her when she died in 2018.

Her surviving children and siblings reflected the family network that remained an important part of her identity beyond celebrity connections and public appearances.

Death of Lois Driggs Cannon

Lois Driggs Cannon Aldrin died on July 17, 2018, in Salt Lake City, Utah, bringing her long and eventful life to an end.

She was 88 years old at the time of her death, having lived through enormous cultural, technological, and social changes across America.

Her death resulted from natural causes, approximately six years after her divorce from Buzz Aldrin officially concluded their decades-long relationship and partnership.

She was survived by her three children, Lisa, Brynn, and Bryant Cannon, along with surviving members of her extended Driggs family.

A private memorial celebration was planned for her, allowing relatives and friends to remember a life extending well beyond her famous marriage.

Lois Driggs Cannon’s Legacy

Lois Driggs Cannon is commonly remembered because of Buzz Aldrin, yet her personal history demonstrates a considerably broader and more independent life.

She earned a Stanford education, became a teacher, explored Europe, raised three children, traveled adventurously, supported charities, and pursued active recreational interests.

Her later partnership with Aldrin placed her behind many professional activities that helped maintain his public presence decades after the Apollo 11 mission.

Although their marriage ultimately ended through a difficult separation, they spent roughly 24 years combining personal companionship with ambitious professional and social activities.

Her legacy therefore belongs not only to astronaut history but also to education, motherhood, philanthropy, travel, entrepreneurship, resilience, and an adventurous American life.

Interesting Facts About Lois Driggs Cannon

Lois Adele Driggs was born on November 2, 1929, during the opening days of the Great Depression.
Her parents were Effie and Douglas H. Driggs, and her family had important connections with Arizona business history.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Stanford University in 1951.
She received a teaching credential from UCLA and taught in both Beverly Hills and Palo Alto.
Lois spent years living in Europe with her first husband, Bryant W. Cannon, and their growing family.
In 1962, she traveled European inland waterways aboard a 24-foot Danish cabin cruiser from the Baltic toward the Mediterranean.
She had three children — Lisa, Brynn, and Bryant Cannon — from her first marriage.
Lois met Buzz Aldrin around 1985 and married the Apollo 11 astronaut on Valentine’s Day in 1988.
She helped develop and manage business opportunities surrounding Aldrin’s famous name, appearances, endorsements, and space-exploration work.
Lois died from natural causes on July 17, 2018, in Salt Lake City at the age of 88.

Bottom Line

Lois Driggs Cannon deserves recognition as more than the third wife of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and a figure in his personal history.

Her journey began within an influential Arizona family and developed through Stanford education, professional teaching, international travel, marriage, motherhood, and adventurous experiences.

Her second marriage brought worldwide associations with space history, while her organizational abilities helped support Aldrin’s business interests and continuing public career.

Even after their marriage ended, Lois’s larger story remained defined by her children, charitable interests, education, independence, travels, and energetic personality.

From “Mighty Mouse” in high school to teacher, mother, philanthropist, traveler, and business partner, Lois lived a remarkably varied 88-year life.

(FAQs)

Who was Lois Driggs Cannon?

Lois Driggs Cannon was an American educator, philanthropist, mother, traveler, and business partner. She became widely known as the third wife of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

When did Lois Driggs Cannon marry Buzz Aldrin?

Lois married Buzz Aldrin on February 14, 1988. Their marriage lasted approximately 24 years before their divorce was finalized on December 28, 2012.

Did Lois Driggs Cannon have children with Buzz Aldrin?

No. Lois and Buzz Aldrin did not have children together. Lois had three children, Lisa, Brynn, and Bryant Cannon, from her earlier marriage to Bryant W. Cannon.

What did Lois Driggs Cannon do for a living?

Lois studied education at Stanford, obtained a teaching credential through UCLA, and taught in Beverly Hills and Palo Alto. Later, she helped manage business activities connected with Buzz Aldrin’s public career.

When and how did Lois Driggs Cannon die?

Lois Driggs Cannon died from natural causes on July 17, 2018, in Salt Lake City. She was 88 years old and was survived by her three children and other family members.

Lois Driggs Cannon