Percy, Loraine Guyer

Widow of three-term Republican U.S. Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois, died at age 91 in Southern California on Friday, November 6, 2020. Born in Pasadena in 1928 to Leigh D. and Emily S. Guyer, and raised in Altadena and Laguna Beach, CA, she attended Principia School for Christian Scientists in St. Louis, MO, and studied at UCLA and Mexico City College, Mexico. While skiing in Sun Valley in 1949, Loraine met Charles H. Percy, then President of Bell & Howell Company and a widower with three children under the age of five. The two married in 1950 and established a home on Chicago’s North Shore, welcoming two more children by 1955.

After her husband’s election to the U. S. Senate in 1966, Loraine hosted Illinois constituents in their Georgetown home, and gave them tours around the Capitol and District. In a diplomatic role and at a time when social ties helped bridge partisan divides, she presided over private, formal dinners, with guests drawn from both political parties and the military, diplomatic corps, press, and Cabinet. She was an intrepid world traveler, often in the company of her brother David, president of Save the Children, or her brother John, first a Peace Corps director in Western India and Afghanistan, and then director of The Asia Foundation in civil war-torn Sri Lanka. Loraine supported Tibetan independence and was an initial sponsor of HH the 14th Dalai Lama and HH the Gyalwa Karmapa XVI in the U.S., helping facilitate the founding of the International Campaign for Tibet and the Tibetan Meditation Center in Washington, D.C.

Loraine is survived by her children and their families: Sharon Percy Rockefeller, U. S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, and John, Valerie, Charles, and Justin Rockefeller; Roger D. Percy, Penny Percy, and Cameron Percy; Gail Percy, Wade Davis, and Tara and Raina Davis; and Mark C. Percy, Leslee Percy, and Gavin Percy and Taylor Bowis. She also is survived by her sisters-in-law, Diana G. Guyer and Doris Percy Strauss, by her great-grandchildren, her Guyer and Percy nieces and nephews, and her many friends. She is preceded in death by her daughter, Valerie, and brothers David L. and John D. Guyer.

Loraine will be buried beside her husband privately at Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.