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How many of Woody Guthrie's children get Huntington's disease?

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Woody Guthrie had eight children across three marriages, and two of his children inherited and died from Huntington's disease.

The specific details regarding his children's health include:

Sue and Gwen Guthrie: Both daughters from his first marriage to Mary Jennings developed and passed away from Huntington's disease in their early forties. (A third sibling from this marriage, Bill, died in a car accident at age 23).

Arlo and Nora Guthrie: His well-known children from his second marriage to Marjorie Guthrie were born with a 50/50 chance of inheriting the disease. Both declined to be tested, but neither has developed symptoms.

Joady Guthrie: Woody’s other son with Marjorie Guthrie was tested and received a negative result.

Because Huntington's is a hereditary, autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder, Woody Guthrie's mother passed it to him, and it ultimately claimed the lives of both his oldest daughters.

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Marriage and family

At age 20, Guthrie met and married his first wife, Oklahoma-born Mary Jennings (1917–2014), in Texas in 1931. They had three children together: Gwendolyn, Sue, and Bill. Bill died at the age of 23 as the result of an automobile accident in Pomona, California. The daughters both died of Huntington's disease at the age of 41, in the 1970s. Evidently the disease had been passed on from their father, although Guthrie himself was diagnosed with the condition later in life, in 1952, when he was 43 years old. Guthrie and Mary divorced sometime between 1943 and 1945.

On November 13, 1945, Guthrie married Marjorie Greenblatt. They had four children: sons Arlo and Joady and daughters Nora and Cathy. After Guthrie was admitted to Brooklyn State Hospital in 1952, doctors advised Marjorie to divorce him and take custody of the children because of Woody's raging paranoia and occasional violent acts against family members. They were divorced in 1953. Despite the divorce, she remained close to Woody for the rest of his life and supervised all of his complex health needs.

After his discharge from the hospital, Guthrie had a romantic relationship with Anneke van Kirk from late 1952, marrying her in 1953 and having a daughter, Lorinna Lynn. However, due to his deteriorating condition, this relationship led to their divorce just one year later. Guthrie had a total of eight children over his three relationships.

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