Dorothy Mayhew, a citizen activist and a longtime supporter of women's reproductive rights, has died. She was 97.
Mayhew died in her home in Spring Valley, where she lived with an aide, her family said.
Mayhew began advocating for women's right to contraception and abortion in the latter part of her long career as an elementary school teacher in the East Ramapo school district. She was among a small group of women who started the first Planned Parenthood office in Rockland, raising money, volunteering and staffing the West Nyack office where affordable birth control and abortions were available to women in the county for the first time.
She continued her advocacy, traveling to Albany and Washington with local activists to take part in abortion-rights rallies. She also escorted women to Gynecare in Tallman, run by Dr. Irwin Scher and then the sole abortion clinic in Rockland, as jeering crowds taunted them as murderers.
"I knew her as a trailblazer, as a someone who stood for equal rights for women and for social justice before they became fashionable," said Emily Feiner, a Nyack social worker and a former board member of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic.
Her passionate support for women's reproductive rights came from her own experience as a teenager, said her daughter Muriel Hogan. As a young college student, Mayhew became pregnant and underwent a backroom abortion. The experience was traumatic, and she didn't want other women to undergo a similar trauma.
"She was just very, very passionate about men sitting in Washington and making laws about women and their rights," said Hogan, 61, of Wesley Hills. "She felt that as women, we needed to stand up and fight for our rights."
Mayhew was born May 28, 1911, in Syracuse to Irving and Jesse Hurst. She went to Syracuse Normal School and received a teacher's certification. She later received a bachelor's degree in education.
She began working for the East Ramapo school district in August 1933 and worked there for 28 years, with some breaks. She retired in 1978.
During her early years in Rockland, she met and married Bert MacMahon. They raised four children, all of whom were adopted or were foster children. They divorced, and she and William Mayhew were married in the late 1960s.
Hogan recalled an active childhood, with her mother taking the children to concerts, museums, ballet performances and historic sites.
"She was just mom, very active, always present, always there," said Hogan, 61. "She was very dedicated to her family."
By the time Mayhew was honored at the opening of the Spring Valley office of Planned Parenthood about five years ago, several women had taken up the cause of female reproductive rights, said Feiner, the social worker. But Mayhew was concerned that younger women didn't appreciate the sacrifices older women had made for those rights and that they would let them slip away without a fight, she said.
Her opponents in the anti-abortion campaign said they would pray for her and offer Mass for her soul.
"I prayed that she would save her soul before she died," said Peggy Beirne of Pearl River, who had known Mayhew for many years. "She had to make her peace with God."
In addition to Planned Parenthood, Mayhew was a passionate volunteer for National Organization for Women, Meals on Wheels, United Church Breakfast Program, Pro-Choice, and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.
She received various state, county and local commendations for her community service.
Mayhew is survived by her children, Terry MacMahon of Newport, N.C.; Hogan; William Mayhew of Wallkill, N.Y.; and Susan Messina of Casper, Wyo. She is also survived by nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Her husband, William Mayhew; sons Peter Tingher and Robert MacMahon; and grandson Ryan MacMahon died before her.
A celebration of Mayhew's life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the United Church of Spring Valley.
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