Dark was married twice. His first wife, Adrienne Managan, was his childhood sweetheart; the two had grown up going to the same church.Dark, p. 102 They had four children: Allison, Gene, Eve, and Margaret. In 1962, however, he met Jacolyn Troy while she was serving as an airline stewardess on a flight he was on.Dark, p. 100 Although it went against his Christian beliefs, he began having an affair with her.Dark, p. 105 They tried multiple times to break it off, and Dark even told his wife about it in December 1962.Dark, pp. 104-05 This led to the Darks moving back to Lake Charles after the 1963 season, so Adrienne could be nearer her family in case the couple got divorced, though Robert Boyle of Sports Illustrated thought the move meant that Dark was trying to become manager of the Houston Astros.Dark, pp. 105-06 Finally, in November 1968, Adrienne filed for legal separation from Dark, as couples in Louisiana had to be legally separated for 14 months before they could get a divorce.Dark, p. 134 The divorce was finalized early in the 1970 baseball season, and Alvin married Jackie the same day he signed the last divorce papers.Dark, p. 140 Though he believed divorce was sinful, "we just weren't letting God get in our way," he said of his decision to remarry.Dark, pp. 106, 134 "There are people in Lake Charles who have not spoken to me since, much less forgiven me," Dark wrote in 1980.Dark, p. 135 After some initial struggles, Alvin and Jackie developed a happy marriage by 1974 and stayed together for 44 years until Alvin's death in 2014.Dark, pp. 144, 154-58 Jackie had two children from a previous marriage, Rusty and Lori, whom Dark adopted as his own in October 1970.Dark, p. 142
