Dorothy R. Dellinger, 89; aide to Reagan in the White House, L.A.

Dorothy R. “Dottie” Dellinger, 89, an assistant to President Reagan, died May 13 at her Santa Monica home, her family said. She had suffered from lung cancer.

After volunteering with the Westside Republican Council, Dellinger was asked to help with a backlog of mail in 1975 that had been sent to Reagan, then the former governor of California.

She arrived in Washington after Reagan was elected president in 1980. Dellinger served as deputy director of the White House visitors office and later as staff assistant to the president.

Working for Reagan required her to maintain a bicoastal marriage for the first few years. But she told The Times in 1981, when she was 63: “It’s hard not to sound like Pollyanna.... I’ve done everything I liked doing all of my life, from raising my children to going to work for Reagan.

“But how many women of my age could go out and get their first job and end up in the White House? It’s some sort of dream.”

After Reagan left office in 1989, Dellinger was his executive assistant in Los Angeles until 1994.

Dorothy Stock was born July 13, 1917, in Chicago. She moved to Santa Monica in 1930 and met her future husband, Arthur J. Dellinger, at Lincoln Junior High School. They married in 1937 and had three sons.

Her husband died in 1985 and a son, Robert H. Dellinger, died in 1990.

She is survived by two sons, Arthur J. “Kip” Dellinger Jr. of Los Angeles and Royal S. Dellinger of Rockville, Md., and two granddaughters.

Instead of flowers, the family requests donations to the Santa Monica Boys and Girls Club, 1238 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401.