Molly Lyon Services for Molly Lyon,...

Molly Lyon

Services for Molly Lyon, a Newport Coast resident and one of

Orange County’s prominent social activists, will be held at 3 p.m.

Monday at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach. Mrs. Lyon

died Sunday of cancer. She was 74.

Mrs. Lyon was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and

grew up in Seattle. She left the Pacific Northwest and headed to the

San Francisco Bay Area, where she met her husband, Leon. The couple

collected and studied contemporary art. They also donated several

pieces to the then-Newport Harbor Art Museum, Orange County

Philharmonic Society and other cultural organizations.

But Mrs. Lyon’s true passion was politics. She was an avid

supporter of Planned Parenthood, fund-raising as chair of its

Community Action Fund, and an active Democrat.

Mrs. Lyon was also active in the controversial fair housing

campaign. Then a Fullerton resident, she walked door to door and

handed out literature in her upscale Sunny Hills neighborhood.

She was also the co-founder of “The Great American Write-In,” an

annual grass-roots effort to mobilize citizens to write thousands of

letters to lobby elected officials about important social and

political issues. The OC Metro magazine named Mrs. Lyon one of the

county’s 10 most influential people in 1995.

She is survived by husband of 55 years Leon; sons Bruce and Kurt;

daughter Linda Othenin-Girard; and six grandchildren.

The Lyon family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be

sent to the Molly Lyon Fund, Planned Parenthood of Orange County, 700

S. Tustin St., Orange, CA 93866.

* The Daily Pilot welcomes obituaries for residents or former

residents of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. If you want to have an

obituary printed in the Pilot, ask your mortuary to fax us the

information at (949) 646-4170 or call the newsroom at (949) 764-4324.