Dixy Lee Ray - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Dixy Lee Ray was the 17th Governor of the U.S. State

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

of Washington. She was Washington's first female governor.

Early years

She was born Marguerite Ray in Tacoma to Frances Adams Ray and Alvis Marion Ray (a commercial printer). Marguerite was second in a family of five girls. In 1930 she changed her name to "Dixy Lee". She attended Tacoma's

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

Stadium High School

Stadium High School is a 100-year-old high school in Tacoma, Washington and a historic landmark. It is part of Tacoma Public Schools, or Tacoma School District No. 10 and is located in the Stadium District, near downtown Tacoma. The original building burned to a shell while it was still a partially...

, graduated as valedictorian from Mills College

Mills College

Mills College is an independent liberal arts women's college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the Rockies. The institution was initially founded...

in Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

in 1937, and with a master's degree in 1938 with her thesis entitled "A Comparative Study of the Life Habits of Some Species of Burrowing Eumalacostraca

Eumalacostraca

The Eumalacostraca are a subclass of crustaceans, containing almost all living malacostracans, about 40,000 described species. The remaining subclasses are the Phyllocarida and possibly the Hoplocarida or mantis shrimps....

". She earned her PhD from Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

in Palo Alto

Palo Alto, California

Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

. Her doctoral dissertation was "The peripheral nervous system of Lampanyctus leucopsarus

Lampanyctus

Lampanyctus is a genus of lanternfish in the family Myctophidae.- Species :* Spinytail lampfish, Lampanyctus acanthurus Wisner, 1974* Lampanyctus alatus Goode & Bean, 1896* Southern lanternfish, Lampanyctus australis Tåning, 1932...

," completed in 1945 at the Hopkins Marine Station

Hopkins Marine Station

Hopkins Marine Station is the marine laboratory of Stanford University. It is located ninety miles south of the university's main campus, in Pacific Grove, California on the Monterey Peninsula, adjacent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is home to nine research laboratories and a fluctuating...

, Pacific Grove

Pacific Grove, California

Pacific Grove is a coastal city in Monterey County, California, USA, with a population of 15,041 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,522 as of the 2000 census...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

Academic career

Ray was a marine biologist and taught at the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

from 1947 until 1972. In 1952 she received a prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...

fellowship grant for Biology.

From 1963 until 1972, Dr. Ray became the director of Seattle's Pacific Science Center

Pacific Science Center

The Pacific Science Center is a science museum in Seattle, Washington.-Organization:Pacific Science Center is an independent, non-profit science museum based in Seattle, Washington...

, guiding its future after the founding as part of the 1962 World's Fair

Century 21 Exposition

The Century 21 Exposition was a World's Fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962 in Seattle, Washington.Nearly 10 million people attended the fair...

. An advocate of nuclear power

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

, she was appointed by Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

to chair the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission

United States Atomic Energy Commission

The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...

in 1973 and was the only woman to serve as chair of the AEC.

In 1975, Dr. Ray was appointed and served as the first Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs

Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs

The Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in the United States Department of State...

Political career

Ray was elected governor of Washington in 1976 as a Democrat. She quickly astonished her supporters with her strongly conservative views. She was governor when Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is south of Seattle, Washington and northeast of Portland, Oregon. Mount St. Helens takes its English name from the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a...

started volcanic activity

Volcano

2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

after a 123 year dormant or inactive phase. As volcanic activity increased, the mountain attracted scientists and sightseers. On April 3, 1980, she declared a state of emergency

State of emergency

A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...

and urged people to stay away from the mountain. This declaration allowed the National Guard

Washington National Guard

The Washington National Guard is headquartered at Camp Murray, Washington and is defined by its state and federal mission. At the call of the Governor, the Washington National Guard will mobilize and deploy during times of state emergency to augment local jurisdictions and responders in their...

to assist State Patrol

Washington State Patrol

The Washington State Patrol is the state police agency for the State of Washington. The first six motorcycle patrolmen of the Highway Patrol were commissioned September 1, 1921. The agency was renamed to Washington State Patrol in June 1933. In 1925 William Cole was appointed as the first...

troopers and sheriffs deputies from Cowlitz County

Cowlitz County, Washington

Cowlitz County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census its population was 102,410. It forms the Longview, Washington, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. The county seat is at Kelso, and its largest city is Longview...

and Skamania County. Ray also issued an executive order that restricted access to extremely dangerous areas of Mount St. Helens and its surrounds. The "red zone" restrictions would be credited by Forest Service respondents to a post-eruption 'Warning and Response Survey' with keeping between 5,000 and 30,000 potential decedents out of the blast area.

In 1980, she lost in the Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

primary election

Primary election

A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

to then-State Senator Jim McDermott

Jim McDermott

James Adelbert "Jim" McDermott is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1989. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The 7th District includes most of Seattle and Vashon Island, and portions of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Tukwila, SeaTac, and Burien.He serves on the House Ways and Means...

, who went on to lose in the general election to moderate Republican John D. Spellman. Ray left the governor's office in January 1981 when her successor took the Oath of Office.

Death and legacy

Dixie Lee Ray died on January 2, 1994 at Fox Island, Washington

Fox Island, Washington

Fox Island is a census-designated place in Pierce County, Washington, United States, on an island of the same name in Puget Sound. It is located approximately five miles from Gig Harbor. The island was named Fox by Charles Wilkes during the United States Exploring Expedition, to honor J.L. Fox, an...

.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is a professional body, specifically an engineering society, focused on mechanical engineering....

(ASME) established an award in Dixy Lee Ray's honor for engineering contributions to the field of environmental protection in 1998. The award, which consists of a bronze medal with the governor's likeness and $1000 was first given to Clyde W. Frank in 1999 and has been made annually since.

She co-authored two books critical of the environmentalist

Environmentalist

An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...

movement with Lou Guzzo

Lou Guzzo

Lou Guzzo is a former journalist, author, and television commentator in Seattle, Washington. He was an art and theater critic for 20 years at the Seattle Times, then served as the managing editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, where his investigative team wrote stories that led to the...

. Her papers are archived at the Hoover Institution

Hoover Institution

The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....

and are catalogued online.

External links

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