Ray, Dixy Lee, 1914-1994

<p>Dixy Lee Ray (September 3, 1914 – January 2, 1994) was an American scientist and politician who served as the 17th Governor of the U.S. state of Washington. Variously described as idiosyncratic, and "ridiculously smart," she was the state's first female governor and was in office during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. She was a supporter of atomic energy.</p>

<p>A graduate of Mills College and Stanford University, where she earned a doctorate in biology, Ray became an associate professor at the University of Washington in 1957. She was chief scientist aboard the schooner SS Te Vega during the International Indian Ocean Expedition. Under her guidance, the nearly bankrupt Pacific Science Center was transformed from a traditional, exhibit-oriented museum to an interactive learning center, and returned to solvency.</p>

<p>In 1973, Ray was appointed chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) by President Richard Nixon. Under her leadership, research and development was separated from safety programs, and Milton Shaw, the head of the powerful reactor development division, was removed. She was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs by President Gerald Ford in 1975, but resigned six months later, complaining about lack of input into department decision making.</p>

<p>Ray ran for election as Governor of Washington as a Democrat in 1976. She won the election despite her blunt, sometimes confrontational, style. As governor, she approved allowing supertankers to dock in Puget Sound, championed support for unrestrained growth and development, and continued to express enthusiasm for atomic energy. On April 3, 1980 she declared a state of emergency as a result of the volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens. She retired after losing her re-election bid for Democratic nomination later that year.</p>

DIXY LEE RAY, Washington State’s 17th governor, was born in Tacoma, Washington. She received a bachelor’s (1937) and a master’s (1938) degree from Mills College and a Ph.D. in marine biology (1945) from Stanford University. From 1939 to 1942, she taught in the public schools in Oakland and Pacific Grove, California. She was associate professor of zoology at the University of Washington from 1945 to 1976. From 1960 to 1963, Ray was a special consultant in biological oceanography for the National Science Foundation, and from 1963 to 1972, she directed the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. In 1964, Governor Ray was a visiting professor at Stanford University and the chief scientist for the TE VEGA expedition. From 1972 to 1975, she was a member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, serving as its chair from 1973 to 1975 and she created the Department of Safety to make the use of nuclear energy safer. She was elected governor of Washington State in 1976 and served one term. Some of the most important events during her term of office included creating a task group that proposed full state funding of basic education. The 1977 legislature authorized a salmon enhancement program to increase the population of salmon and state voters passed Initiative 345 eliminating sales tax on most food. In 1978, a foreign office was established in Singapore, Japan, to assist trade between Washington and foreign markets. During her term, the state suffered one of the worst droughts on record and Governor Ray set up an Emergency Water Advisory Committee that asked everyone to conserve water and electricity. The state also chose a site at Hanford to purchase for the disposal of dangerous non-nuclear wastes, and the governor established a Washington State Hazardous Materials Commission in 1978. She was also very concerned about the state’s energy supply and felt the five Washington Pubic Power Supply System (WPPSS) nuclear power plants at Satsop and Hanford should be completed. The most exciting environmental event of her term was the explosion of Mt. St. Helens in 1980. Before the eruption, Governor Ray established red and blue danger zones which probably helped save many lives. Ray was the first woman elected as Governor of Washington and only the second woman in U.S. history elected without having been preceded in office by a husband. Governor Ray was very interested in programs for the aged and set up four conferences on aging. Her opponents were environmentalists, who did not like her support of nuclear power and her support of supertankers carrying oil from Alaska through the Puget Sound. Her political style was unique and very genuine, and there was general improvement in the state’s condition during her tenure. She also served on the Executive Committee of the National Governors Association. In 1978, she received both the United Nations Peace Prize and National Freedom Foundation Award. She died in her home on Fox Island, January 2, 1994.

<p>Dr. Dixy Lee Ray was a marine biologist, associate professor at the University of Washington, and director of Seattle's Pacific Science Center. In 1972 President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) appointed her to serve on the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which she chaired from 1973 to 1975. In 1976 she became the first woman to be elected governor of Washington. The Seattle-King County Association of Realtors named Dixy Lee Ray First Citizen of 1973.</p>

<p>Dixy Lee Ray was born September 3, 1914, in Tacoma. Her mother was Frances Adams Ray. Her father, Alvis Marion Ray, was a commercial printer. The second in a family of five girls, Dixy Lee quickly carved out a niche as the tomboy. Originally named Marguerite, family lore had it that Ray was often referred to ruefully as "the little dickens." The phrase is a gentle way to call someone a little devil. Dickens evolved to Dixy. Ray is said to have chosen her middle name in reference to a family ancestry to Robert E. Lee. Whatever the story, Dixy Lee Ray's original first name was a closely guarded secret during her years in the public spotlight. In 1930 she legally changed her name to Dixy Lee Ray.</p>

<p>The Ray family spent summers on rural Fox Island near Tacoma. This early exposure to nature was formative to Dixy Lee, who later credited the hours out of doors with her attraction to science. At age 12 she climbed Mount Rainier, the youngest girl on record to have done so at the time.</p>