Wife of state Senate majority leader dies

Wednesday, April 8, 1998 | 10:21 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Dorothy Raggio is remembered as someone who was always thinking of someone else.

Raggio, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, died Wednesday at home. She was 70.

"She was a wonderful, supporting wife and a mother and always doing things for others," said Coe Swobe, a longtime friend of the family. Swobe, a lawyer and former state senator, said he saw Dorothy Raggio last weekend and even as her own health was slipping, Raggio expressed concerned about Swobe's wife who was also ill.

More than 500 people turned out Saturday at the American Cancer Society's Silver Baron Ball to honor the Raggios, citing the more than two-year battle Dorothy Raggio, who could not attend due to her illness, had waged against lung cancer.

Gov. Bob Miller called her "one of the kindest and most generous people I have ever known. Dottie was a friend and someone I greatly admire in every way."

Bill and Dorothy Raggio were Reno high school sweethearts and were married Aug. 15, 1948. The couple moved to the San Francisco Bay area where he attended law school and she worked as a sales clerk in a department store to support the couple.

They returned to Reno in 1951 and she took part in her husband's legal and political career. She was involved with the Parent-Teachers Association, Lawyers' Wives and on the board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Dorothy Raggio was appointed to the board of the Nevada Girls Training Center in Caliente by former Gov. Mike O'Callaghan in 1974. O'Callaghan then named her as the first consumer representative on the Nevada State Board of Dental Examiners in 1978 and she was reappointed to the position by every governor since.

Born April 14, 1927, in Long Beach, Calif., Dorothy Raggio lived her early years in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where her family owned a chain of retail grocery stores. She and her mother, the late Irene L. Brigman, moved to Reno in 1937 where her late stepfather Dr. Lemuel Brigman, practiced pediatric medicine.

After graduating from Reno High School, she attended the University of Nevada where she was affiliated with Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority. While her husband rose in politics to become district attorney of Washoe County and later majority leader of the Senate, "Dottie," as she was known, attended the obligatory political dinners and occasionally showed up at the Legislature, where her husband is regarded as one of the most powerful members.

Raggio often clashed with Miller on issues in the Legislature, but Miller called Dottie "a peacemaker in the Miller-Raggio political arena. She told Bill not to argue with Bob, just as my wife Sandy told me not to argue with Bill."

"This is a great loss and I am deeply saddened," the governor said.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by daughters Leslie Righetti of Whitefish, Mont., and Tracy L. Woodring of Reno; a son, Mark Raggio of Phoenix, Ariz.; and eight grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Monday at 10 a.m. at St. Therese, the Little Flower Catholic Church. Private burial will follow at the Mountain View Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Dorothy Raggio Memorial Music Scholarship Fund to be established with the University of Nevada, Reno Foundation or the Make-A-Wish Foundation.