Donald Lee Laisure Sr., was born on April 18th, 1929. He served in the Marine Corps in WWII. While many articles state that he was from Texas, I have been unable to find any census information regarding if he grew up there. Most of his census infomation shows the multiple marriages and divorces that he had over the years. Most of the evidence showing that he lived in Texas is from when he was an adult. I found a census record from 1930, though I am unsure if it is actually him, but if so, he may have been born in Kansas. Despite having been in the Marine Corps he has lied in the past about being a 'retired general officer'. Also interestingly, he must have lied about his age when serving in WWII, because even if he went in in 1945, he would have only been 16 years old (though, I have heard many stories about teens at this time lying about their age to serve in WWII).
At some point Donald seems to have a daughter in 1964, and a son with his wife Williamae in 1966. He also had a son with wife Wilhelmina in 1958.
On June 28th, 1968, Donald Laisure pled guilty to a charge of credit card forgery (a felony) in the state of Texas. He was given five years of probation. In 1971, Laisure pawned some of his guns, and then later returned to get them back. When he went to get them back, he falsely stated that he hadn't evern been convicted of a crime punishable for more than one year. This brought more legal trouble, which can be read online, where seemed to argue the verbiage of whether he was really considered convicted or not.
He is most notably known for having married Susan Atkins. He stated that he met her on the freeway in 1965. Apparently, Laisure had been corresponding with Susan for years (and the power of ESP), but was lying to her the whole time. Laisure would refer to her as 'Honey Bear' in the press. He told her that he was a millionaire (which he wasn't), and had enough money and power to buy Susan out of jail. Laisure stated the had spent 6.4 million to free her, and would try to get a pardon on the white house level. She found out he was lying three months after being married.
They got married while she was in prison, on September 2nd, 1981. She became his 35th wife (allegedly), but divorced when he reportedly wanted to marry again. They were legally divorced on October 13th, 1982. They did not have any children together. Despite sources stating that Susan had the marriage annulled, they were legally divorced in the state of Texas. In an interview with the Houston Press, Laisure stated that he got divorced in Cuba, 'signed by Castro himself'.
On an episode of Maury in 1993, Donald appeared and had stated that he had been married 45 times (at that point). Laisure talked big and played up to the stereotype of the rich country Texas man. He also apparently insisted on using a dollar sign to replace the 's' in his last name (Lai$sure). On the Maury episode, he stated that Susan was innocent, but in the 2009 interview with the Houston Press, he said that she was "guilty as hell".
Marriages and Divorces (some of them at least):
Willamae B Laisure: ? Sometime around 1966
Wilhelmina Laisure: ? Sometime around 1958
Veronica M Laisure: October 17th 1959 - ?
Wanda L Laisure: December 20th, 1968 - July 28th, 1969
Muriel A Laisure: June 22nd, 1970 - November 8th, 1971
Lynne H Laisure: December 30th, 1971 - September 26th, 1977
Ester L Laisure: February 16th, 1979 - December 23rd, 1980
Susan D. Laisure (Atkins) - September 2nd 1981 - October 13th, 1982
Janet L Laisure: July 14th 1983 - May 17th 1984
Terrie L Laisure: June 15 1984 - February 10th 1986
On September 25th, 2011, Donald Laisure passed away at the age of 82. He is buried at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.
[SOURCES]
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/78648422/donald-l-laisure
http://www.cielodrive.com/susan-atkins.php
https://www.houstonpress.com/news/a-chat-with-the-husband-of-the-recently-deceased-manson-girl-6732234
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/460/709/190850/
https://youtu.be/SZVPqXnUQQw
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