Dolores Atiyeh
Dolores Atiyeh helps a disabled child in Eugene in 1978. Atiyeh was active in numberous charities and organizations in Oregon for decades
(LC- The Oregonian)
Dolores Atiyeh, Oregon's first lady for eight years and a Portland native who advocated for children's health and arts-related issues for decades, died Monday. She was 92.
She passed away at a Portland care facility due to age-related illness, according to a family spokesman. Her death comes more than two years after her husband, former Oregon Republican Gov. Vic Atiyeh, died at the age of 91.
The former first lady was remembered Monday as being active in supporting the arts, education and reading. She wasn't in love with the political life, but also wasn't afraid to step in and push policies she believed in through the years.
"She was just an incredible lady," said Denny Miles, the governor's former press secretary and the family spokesman. "It was an honor to know her." Vic Atiyeh was governor from 1979-1987 and worked for two decades as a state legislator. The family also owned Atiyeh Brothers, a Portland rug and carpet business.
Dolores was involved in volunteer and charitable work dating back decades, Miles said in an interview. During her husband's second term, she helped push for a mandatory children's immunization bill, which passed in 1981. She was also active in passing a mandatory seat belt rule for children under the age of 5 in 1983.
Miles said the bill was "not a softball issue," but Dolores threw herself into the fight. "It's kind of controversial, and she took the lead," he said.
Dolores Hewitt was born in Portland in 1923 and went on to graduate from Southeast Portland's Washington High School.
It was there that she and Vic Atiyeh first met and became high school sweethearts.
"She was the pretty one," said Jim Moore, a Pacific University professor who is writing a biography of the former governor. "He thought she was out of his league."
Dolores Atiyeh died Monday at the age of 92.
The pair attended the University of Oregon, but neither graduated from the school after World War II began.
Dolores had been studying art in the honors college, Miles said.
Miles, who first met Dolores in 1977, said the couple were incredibly close. Vic "legitimately and with all seriousness gave so much credit to her for his successes," Miles said in an interview.
The Atiyehs lived in Salem before the state purchased Mahonia Hall, the governor's mansion, it was during a different era of state politics.
"There was almost no help with the housework. I kept books, answered letters, made speeches," Dolores told The Oregonian in 1987. "I liked it, but it was physically difficult to keep up the pace without help.''
The family lived in a rented home, which Dolores painted and decorated before moving in.
"It was my silver, my crystal, my dishes and my furniture. And we paid $525-a-month rent,'' she said.
She didn't love being a politician's wife, but excelled at some tasks where Vic struggled. Miles recalled during the re-election effort in 1982, Dolores enjoyed working the campaign room. She would walk around talking to everyone, a task Vic didn't enjoy as much. "Every time she'd talk to somebody, she put a sticker on their lapel," Miles recalled. That way she could survey the room and see who she might've missed.
"That was something that she did, and did extremely well," he said.
Moore echoed Mile fact that Dolores didn't revel in the political obligations.
In an interview from the Vic Atiyeh archives at Pacific, recorded by the Oregon Historical Society, the state's 32nd governor said public life was "not easy for a spouse."
"You've got a different life now than you had that you're used to," Vic said in the interview. Eight years after they left home in Portland for Salem, Vic said he recalled Dolores saying, 'Gee, it's nice to be home!'"
Moore said the story of Dolores and Vic is "a love story" first and foremost. The couple had just celebrated their 70th anniversary weeks before Vic's death.
They are survived by two grown children and five grandchildren.
-- Andrew Theen
atheen@oregonian.com
503-294-4026
@andrewtheen