A Life Lived at Full Throttle
Dorothea Lyman was fearless.
“At 80, Dorothea drove my husband’s ski boat at full throttle in the [Sacramento-San Joaquin] Delta. She went ziplining with my sister and me at 93. At 94 she jumped out of a plane,” shares Anne Lyman Davenport about her aunt Dorothea, who died on May 11, 2024, at the age of 106. “At 97 she drove the Infinity Raceway in Sonoma, California. She was able to keep up with the lead car driven by a professional driver!”
“At 98 she took a glider ride up over Clear Lake,” said Anne. “She asked me to ask the pilot to do some fun loops and dives, [so] I convinced my younger sister to join her on the flight. Dorothea thought it was too tame.”
Upon her death, Dorothea Lyman left amfAR $210,000 in her will.
“She loved adventure but was a quiet-spoken, somewhat shy, gentle woman in daily life,” Anne explains. “She was always very frugal, watching her pennies, but she was also very generous. She never tooted her own horn. She believed in right and wrong. She believed in good manners. She believed in equal rights. She cared about people and animals. She believed that treating all people with respect was important.”
Dorothea’s nephew, Richard Lyman, attributes his aunt learning empathy at a young age to a family tragedy—Dorothea was born two days after her father was killed in a training accident while he was in the Army Signal Corps, learning to fly in Coronado, California.
That empathy in part manifested as a generous spirit. Among the causes dear to her, Dorothea supported nature conservancy in California and beyond, as well as Habitat for Humanity. And, undoubtedly affected by the devastation wrought by AIDS in her hometown, she became an amfAR supporter in 1986 and never stopped giving.
Born in Oakland, California, in 1917, Dorothea graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1939. During World War II, she served in the Coast Guard Auxiliary in San Francisco—a “coast watcher”—while her brothers also served, Ted as a Marine and John in the Navy. During this time, she started working at Del Monte Corporation at its Bay Area headquarters.
After a nearly 40-year career, she retired in 1979 and moved to a senior living community in Santa Rosa, where she created a library, led exercise classes, and ran the Saturday night movies program.
Her adventures took her to every corner of the world—Antarctica, Africa, South America, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. She hiked the Himalayas, communed with wildlife in the Galapagos, and journeyed across Russia via the Trans-Siberian Railroad. In her later years, she purchased a small RV and toured America’s state and national parks with her close friend, Barbara. At 97, she embarked on a cruise with her nieces.
“Dorothea attributed her long life to three things,” said nephew Richard Lyman. “Never marrying, never having children, and California red wine!”
“Without the kindness of people like Dorothea, amfAR would not be able to stay the course to end AIDS,” says Kyle Clifford, amfAR’s chief development officer. “Her extraordinary life is an inspiration to us all and her legacy gift will help us chart new horizons in our search for a cure for HIV.”
Questions about planned giving? Please contact us at plannedgiving@amfar.org.
You should always consult with your financial advisor and/or tax professional before initiating a charitable gift arrangement. The information provided on this page should not be construed as tax or financial advice.
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