Prayer Service Scheduled To Honor Dolores Hope
PALM SPRINGS (CBS) — Dolores Hope, widow of comedian Bob Hope and a supporter of numerous charities in her own right, will be honored at a prayer service 8 a.m. Friday at St. Theresa Church.
Hope died Monday of natural causes in her Toluca Lake home at age 102. She kept a home in Palm Springs and donated 80 acres for the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.
Acting Palm Springs Mayor Lee Weigel will speak to St. Theresa students about Hope's legacy to their school, the city of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, city spokeswoman Amy Blaisdell said.
"Dolores Hope was a beloved figure in the Palm Springs community for many years," Weigel said. "She was legendary for supporting countless Coachella Valley charities in need and she was a huge supporter of her parish St. Theresa Church and the parish school."
The Hopes lived in Palm Springs for more than 50 years and owned many homes in the city, including their John Lautner-designed mountaintop estate in Southridge, which overlooks the city, Blaisdell said.
Dolores Hope was Roman Catholic and many of the charities she gave to were church-related.
In 1962, the Hopes donated the funds for the construction of the convent at St. Theresa, which is now the preschool. Dolores Hope typically attended the annual St. Theresa Holiday Fashion Show Gala in December.
"Dolores Hope was our school's perpetual guardian angel and in many ways a patron saint to the Coachella Valley," said Cheryl Corey, principal of St. Theresa.
Members of the public can also pay their respects to Hope by signing a condolence book for her family at the Palm Springs Public Library, 300 S. Sunrise Way.
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