Dolores Hope Dead at 102

Dolores Hope, who was married to Bob Hope for 69 years and accompanied him on many of his trips to entertain American troops overseas, has died at the age of 102. Hope—born Dolores DeFina in Harlem in 1909—sidelined her own singing career after meeting her husband, who died in 2003. She helped arrange his US tours and sang with him to troops serving in wars from World War II to Operation Desert Storm, where she was the only woman the Saudis allowed to perform for American service members, reports the New York Daily News.

Dolores was singing in a Manhattan nightclub in 1933 when Bob Hope first met her. After hearing her sing "It's Only a Paper Moon," Hope told dancer George Murphy, "I'm going to marry her." After putting her singing career largely on hold for more than 50 years to concentrate on philanthropic work and raising the couple's four adopted children, she revived it in her 80s, recording several albums and singing at New York's Rainbow and Stars nightclub. (More Dolores Hope dead stories.)