Dorothy Chase, 85; With Husband Founded Claremont Folk Music Center, Folk Festival

Dorothy Chase, who with her husband, Charles, founded the influential Folk Music Center in Claremont, has died.

She was 85.

Chase died Saturday of supranuclear palsy at her home in Claremont. She had been in failing health for several years fighting the degenerative nerve disease. Her husband died a year ago at 89.

A native of Newton, Mass., she was born Dorothy Edna Udin. She was 18 when she married Charles Chase in 1938. The couple moved to Southern California with their four daughters in the 1950s.

They established the Folk Music Center and Museum in 1957, which led to the Claremont Folksong Society a short time later.

In the 1970s, they also established the Claremont Folk Festival.

Over the nearly 50 years that the store has been in business, Dorothy Chase taught the intricacies of such instruments as the guitar and dulcimer to several thousand students in Southern California.

She stayed active in the store until about seven years ago, when she was diagnosed with supranuclear palsy.

Thereafter, friends and former students would visit her at home and sing to her.

The grandmother of singer-songwriter Ben Harper, Chase is survived by her daughters, 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Instead of flowers, donations may be sent to Claremont Folk Festival, c/o Folk Music Center, 220 Yale Ave., Claremont, CA 91711.