RIP: Dolores Hope, Wife of Bob Hope, Dead at 102

Last year, while we were still living in Los Angeles, my wife and I visited a number of the Catholic missions that dot the State of California’s coastline. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that none other than Bob Hope is buried at the San Fernando Mission in Mission Hills, California. It’s a beautiful, serene and private spot with a plot right next to Bob’s reserved for his beloved wife.

Of course the passing of Dolores Hope is a sad occasion and our condolences go out to her loved ones. But there is some peace in knowing Bob won’t be all alone anymore and that he and his bride of 69 years are side by side once again.

Washington Post

Dolores Hope, who throughout her 69-year marriage to comedian Bob Hope oversaw their charitable giving and played a key role in establishing the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., has died. She was 102.

Mrs. Hope died Sept. 19 at her home in the Toluca Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, publicist Harlan Boll said. No cause of death was reported.

In the late 1960s, the Hopes donated 80 acres of land near their future Palm Springs estate for the medical center, which opened in 1971. They became “the driving forces behind the creation and long-term growth” of the medical facility, the center said on its Web site.

She served as chairwoman of the center’s board for years, and he raised millions of dollars for the center through the annual golf tournament that used to bear his name and is now known as the Humana Challenge.

When her husband died in 2003 — two months after turning 100 — Dolores declined to estimate how many millions they had given or raised for charity. She did say most of it involved young people.

A great deal of their fortune came from vast property holdings in the San Fernando Valley. At Bob Hope’s death, their wealth had been estimated at as much as $500 million. Their multimillion-dollar Palm Springs estate was built in 1979.

On her 100th birthday in 2009, she attended a party in the back yard of the Toluca Lake home that she and her husband bought in 1938. At the event, daughter Linda Hope theorized that laughter in the family home contributed to her parents’ long lives.

Read the full piece here.