Dorothy `Dottie' C. Malone, Art Museum's `Heart And Soul'

Dorothy "Dottie" C. Malone, considered by many to be the Seattle Art Museum's "heart and soul," died last Sunday at her home at Horizon House following complications from pneumonia. She was 88.

Mrs. Malone's devotion to the Seattle Art Museum started in 1931, when she was hired by Dr. Richard E. Fuller, the museum's founder, to be his secretary and administrative assistant. She worked closely with Fuller through the heady days of the opening of the art museum at Volunteer Park in 1933. She stayed on after Fuller retired in 1973, retiring herself in 1988.

An independent-minded, highly organized woman who knew how to get things done, she joked at the museum's 50th anniversary in 1983 that she was "the last member of the original cast" and the museum's most veteran employee. But people who knew her - and that included nearly everyone who worked at the museum in the past 50 years - said that she was far more than an employee.

"She really was part of the history of the museum," said Gail Joice, SAM's senior deputy director. "She was our historian and archivist, she knew everything and everyone, and as registrar I always appreciated that she understood the importance of getting all the information correctly, getting it right."

Nanette Pyne, a friend and the museum's former associate director, described Mrs. Malone as "a very, very modest person" who never sought credit for her contributions to the museum, which, in the '30s and '40s, included acting as the de facto assistant director. Fuller, a geologist by profession and SAM's first director by avocation, often left for weeks at a time on geology expeditions, leaving Mrs. Malone in charge.

"Really, she ran the museum when Dr. Fuller was out of town," said Pyne. "But if you ever said that to her she'd look at you as though you were crazy."

Mrs. Malone was born Dorothy Chatterton in Everett and grew up in the area, studying several years at the University of Washington before marrying Coe V. Malone, a businessman, in 1931. He died in 1975.

Though the Malones had no children, her friends and museum colleagues said Mrs. Malone treated the museum as her family, taking a warm, personal interest in other staff members, especially new, young employees, and the affairs of the museum. She was also a great supporter of Northwest artists and collected their work.

Even after she retired, Mrs. Malone kept a desk at the Volunteer Park museum, now the Seattle Asian Art Museum, and until recently was often at work at the museum helping out as a volunteer.

When she retired, she was named an Honorary Board Member of the Seattle Art Museum, and the board also established the Dorothy C. Malone Volunteer Award in her honor.

In establishing the award, the board noted that it annually will be given "to an outstanding volunteer who reflects the highest standards of museum dedication and commitment as exemplified by Dottie Malone." Last year the museum's administrative offices at Volunteer Park were renamed after her.

Survivors include one brother, Herbert Chatterton II, of San Pedro, Calif., and four nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. tomorrow at the Seattle Asian Art Museum at Volunteer Park. There will be no funeral service. Memorial contributions may be made to the Dorothy C. Malone Memorial Fund at the Seattle Art Museum, Box 22000, Seattle, WA, 98122-9700.