Ainsley Earhardt Gives Loving Tribute to Mother Who Passed Away on Saturday: ‘Mom Would Have Wanted Me to’ be at Work

Fox News co-anchor Ainsley Earhardt gave a loving tribute to her mother, who passed away on Saturday.

Dale Earhardt was 72 years old.

Dale “had a stroke five years ago,” and her husband called his children “probably a week ago” to inform them of their mother’s declining health, said Ainsley on Monday’s Fox & Friends.

The segment showed lovely photos of her mom, including one of her and Ainsley in New York, which she loved to visit and have a martini.

Ainsley said Dale “was a teacher for 33 years” and loved watching Fox & Friends. “She knew when I was taking a day off and would say, ‘Where are you?!”

“She was wonderful,” said Ainsley.

Dale’s grandkids were told on Saturday night about their grandmother’s death, according to Ainsley. At dinner, the kids were asked what it’ll “be like at Christmas time, Jesus’ time in heaven,” said Ainsley, a devout Christian. Her nephew Graham said, “there are going to be a lot of balloons,” while Ainsley’s daughter, Hayden, said, “Can we pick up the phone and call her in heaven.”

Dale was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 39 and was on dialysis, had gallbladder issues, and was “in and out of the hospital,” said Ainsley. Dale and her husband, Lewie “Wayne” Earhardt, “for 50 years.”

Ainsley said her mother “is at peace” and said she was at work because “mom would have wanted me to.”

Ainsley continued:

My sister is going back to school tomorrow to teach her little kids. We’re just grateful we know her faith was strong. We know where she is. She’s with Jesus. She loved the lord and taught all of us about Jesus and took us to church every single Sunday.

Dad was kind of not the governor but we called him the governor. He knows everybody in South Carolina and is so well loved. Mom was kind of the one who was the support system for our family. And she cooked dinner for us every night.

She was a school teacher. She was a school teacher. She would come home late run around with our errands and have food on the table for my dad. So she just was a servant. She served everybody in her community. She had a lot of friends. She loved playing bridge and shanghai.

Dale was on Fox & Friends in March 2016 to cook her southern pimento cheese.

Ainsley mentioned her mom being around when the Fox & Friends co-host’s book I’m So Glad You Were Born was released this year. Ainsley said the book’s title is what her mother would say to her and her siblings on their birthdays.

Getting emotional, Ainsley concluded, “I’m so proud to call her mom, and I am so proud to be her daughter.”

Dale is survived by her husband, her three children, her four grandchildren, her sister, and her sister-in-law.

Watch above via Fox News.