LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Dolores Hope was active as a philanthropist and became known as the "first lady of the USO" as she helped entertain U.S. troops stationed overseas during wartime along with her husband. Dolores would usually close the shows with a rendition of "Silent Night." "They didn't come any more patriotic, caring or talented than Dolores," Carol Channing said.  

"I had such a huge admiration for both of them," actress Julie Newmar said. "The quality it takes to get just one year older, says a lot about that fact that she lived to 102. What a glorious woman and life!"

Dolores last USO show performance was at the age 84, when she sang "White Christmas" to Operation Desert Storm troops from the back of a truck in the Saudi desert.

Proving that it was never too late to pick up a career thread, Dolores restarted her singing career at the age of 83 by recording several albums. She also performed with Rosemary Clooney at Rainbow and Stars in New York for several weeks.

A native New Yorker, Dolores DeFina was a singer at Manhattan's Vogue Club when she met Bob Hope in 1933. It was "love at first song," the biography quotes Bob Hope as saying. The couple married the following year and adopted four children.

Longevity ran in their family as Bob Hope was 100 years old when he died on July 27, 2003. Dolores was by her husband's side.

On May 27, 2009, Dolores Hope became a centenarian; her birthday was featured on The Today Show, with her younger son saying in an ABC interview, "I think of her as love." On May 29, 2010, she was quoted as saying to local press, of her 101st birthday, "I'm still recovering from my 100th birthday bash, so I'm going to keep this year's celebration much quieter." On May 27, 2011, she celebrated her 102nd birthday at her California residence.

"Dolores once said that their longevity could be credited to laughter and they certainly had a lot of that in their lives," actress Alison Arngrim said.

The family will hold a private funeral at burial at the Bob Hope Memorial Garden, San Fernando Mission, California, where her husband was interred.

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