Dorothy Eck, a pioneer for women in Montana politics, a force behind the 1972 Montana Constitution and a champion of open government and human rights, died Saturday in Bozeman. She was 93.
Eck, who represented Bozeman as a Democratic state senator for 20 years, was a small woman who made a giant impact. She did so, not through fiery speeches, but through her common sense, tenacity, courage, Methodist values and determination to work with people across the aisle.
She died in her home on West Garfield Street, where she lived for 55 years, ever since her late husband, Hugo, built the house.
She was attended by her daughter, Diana Eck, Diana’s wife Dorothy Austin, and a younger sister, Carolyn Miller from Washington state.
“It was good to be right with her to the end,” said Diana, a Harvard University professor of comparative religions. “She died of old age. Her venerable body, that carried her so long, just gave out.”
In a 2011 interview when she was 87, Eck recalled the journey that took her from being a faculty wife, expected to play bridge, to a life of activism in Montana politics, where she challenged the “good ol’ boy” traditions of secret legislative committee votes in smoke-filled rooms.
“I think basically my philosophy has always been if you see something that isn’t working well, don’t just complain,” Eck said then. “See if you can do something about it. That can get you in a lot of trouble.” But, she said, it’s the right thing to do.
Tributes came in Monday from fellow Democrats.
Max Baucus, former U.S. senator and ambassador to China, knew Eck since the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention.
“She was a bridge builder, strong in her beliefs, progressive in her beliefs, but always persuading people to work together. And she knew her facts,” Baucus said in an interview. “She was always positive, always upbeat, always a smile, a twinkle in her eye…. Not a bitter bone in her body. Just inspirational.”
“Dorothy was a trailblazer with courage, tenacity and compassion,” wrote U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, who had shared an office with Eck when both served in the Montana Senate. “She was a champion of women, Native Americans and a transparent and accountable government. She left her mark on the pages of Montana’s Constitution, in the halls of our state’s Capitol, and throughout our rural communities.”
Gov. Steve Bullock called Eck “one of Montana’s most influential political figures.”
“We have Dorothy largely to thank for our state constitution, the minimum wage, the right to privacy, and the rights of citizens to participate in our democracy,” Bullock wrote.
Dorothy Bradley, who grew up two houses away, was 23 when Eck encouraged her to run for the Legislature. Bradley, who later ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1992, recalled Eck as “fearless, relentless, a force of nature,” yet also someone with a gentle touch.
Bradley said Eck taught her two major lessons about politics. No. 1 was “know your stuff. She was brilliant and the most prepared person in the room.” No. 2 was to encourage young people to get involved.
“As a mother,” Diana said, “she was a person who gave me the combination of unqualified love and … freedom to flourish and grow. She got her way through gentleness.”
Born in 1924 in Sequim, Washington, Eck moved to Montana in 1946, right after World War II, when Hugo was hired to teach architecture at Montana State College.
The mother of two kids, she was active in Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and became state director of the Methodist Youth Fellowship.
She thought the United Nations was a good idea, a way to prevent wars, and since Republicans were attacking the U.N., she became a Democrat. She took her daughter to shake hands with Eleanor Roosevelt when the former first lady and U.N. delegate spoke in Bozeman.
Eck joined the new local chapter of the League of Women Voters and, when no one else wanted the job, became state LWV president. That changed her life. In 1967 she started traveling to Helena as the state’s first full-time citizen lobbyist.
Eck talked with everyone, and even persuaded a rancher-lawmaker with clout to back Montana’s first minimum wage law. Republican Bob Brown, who was Montana State University student president when Eck encouraged him to run for office, said back then the “whiskey-drinking, old cowboy Legislature was pretty closed to the public.” Smoke came billowing out of committee rooms where lawmakers held poker games – and held secret votes.
The League initiated the idea of calling a Constitutional Convention, to make government responsive to the people instead of a tool of special interests like the copper industry. When the convention gathered, Eck was one of the most influential of the 100 elected delegates. She pushed to have both Republicans and Democrats in leadership.
Eck championed writing into the constitution the right to know what government is doing, the right to privacy, equal protection for women and a provision requiring all Montana students to be educated about the state’s Indian heritage.
After the convention, Eck joined with Betty Babcock, former Republican first lady, to campaign across Montana and persuade voters to ratify the new constitution, which narrowly passed. Montana was the only state in that era to pass a reform constitution, Bradley said. “I give absolute full credit to Dorothy and her (LWV) colleague Daphne (Bugbee).”
Bozeman elected Eck to the state Senate from 1980 to 2000. Eck fought for health and mental health, and battled the tobacco lobby. She fought unsuccessfully to remove an old state law that made homosexuality a crime, when it was still a taboo subject.
In 1984, some farmers argued that no woman should be appointed to a vacancy on the Gallatin County Commission because women “don’t know how to run heavy machinery.” Eck, Bradley and Jane Jelinski poked fun at the idea by driving small tractors down Main Street in the Sweet Pea Parade.
“She was always the one standing up for women,” said Nancy Keenan, Montana Democratic Party executive director. “Her goal always was to get things done. She was not a firebrand. I learned from her how you have to work across the aisle to get things done for everyday Montanans.
“She was fun. She had a great sense of humor. She never gave up, despite all the tragedies in her life. She always saw the good in people.”
Eck endured the deaths of her husband, Hugo, and her son, Laurence. But she remained “a real rock of stability,” her daughter said.
Diana said when Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage, she and her partner held a big wedding ceremony, and her mother gave a great speech.
“I feel really lucky to have had a mother who was so open,” she said.
Diana came to Bozeman last summer and watched the Republican and Democratic conventions on TV with her mother, who loved seeing the elected women on stage and was a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton for president. “The last year was both disappointing and wearisome,” Diana said.
On Thursday she got a call from her mother’s longtime caregiver, Alicia Isaly, and flew to Bozeman on Friday, in time to spend the final two days at her mother’s side.
Her mother had, Diana said, “a wonderful, long life.”
Cremation has taken place. A memorial service for Dorothy Eck will be held Oct. 28 at Bozeman’s United Methodist Church, at a time to be announced later.
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