Claim: Ann Romney attended a private research university in Provo.

Ann Lois Romney -LRB- née Davies ; born April 16 , 1949 -RRB- is the wife of American businessman and politician , Mitt Romney . From 2003 to 2007 , Romney was First Lady of Massachusetts , while her husband served as Governor .   She was raised in Bloomfield Hills , Michigan , and attended the private Kingswood School there , where she dated Mitt Romney . She converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -LRB- LDS Church -RRB- in 1966 . She attended Brigham Young University -LRB- BYU -RRB- , married Mitt Romney in 1969 , and in 1975 received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French .   As First Lady of Massachusetts , Romney served as the governor 's liaison for federal faith-based initiatives . She was involved in a number of children 's charities , including Operation Kids . She was an active participant in her husband 's U.S. presidential campaigns in 2008 and again in 2012 , when he was the Republican Party nominee .   Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998 and has credited a mixture of mainstream and alternative treatments with giving her a lifestyle mostly without limitations . In one activity , equestrianism , she has consequently received recognition in dressage as an adult amateur at the national level and competed professionally in Grand Prix as well . In 2008 , she was also diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ , a non-invasive type of breast cancer . She underwent a lumpectomy in December of the same year and has since been cancer-free .   Ann and Mitt Romney have five sons , born between 1970 and 1981 , and twenty-three grandchildren .