LOS ANGELES ( CNN ) -- Dolores Hope , the widow of actor-comedian Bob Hope , died of natural causes at her Los Angeles home Monday , her family said . She was 102 . `` I had such a huge admiration for both of them , '' actress Julie Newmar said . `` The quality it takes to get just one year older , says a lot about that fact that she lived to 102 . What a glorious woman and life ! '' Although she put her singing career on hold after her marriage to Hope , Dolores Hope was active as a philanthropist , involved in her own causes as well as her husband 's . Military troops entertained by her husband 's USO shows knew Dolores Hope because she would usually close the shows with a rendition of `` Silent Night , '' according to a biography provided by her family . `` She was the First Lady of the USO , '' Carol Channing said . `` They did n't come any more patriotic , caring or talented than Dolores . '' Her last USO show performance came at age 84 , when she sang `` White Christmas '' to Operation Desert Storm troops from the back of a truck in the Saudi desert . She restarted her singing career at the age of 83 by recording several albums . She performed with Rosemary Clooney at Rainbow and Stars in New York for several weeks . Born in Harlem in New York on May 27 , 1909 , Dolores DeFina was a singer at Manhattan 's Vogue Club when she met Bob Hope in 1933 . It was `` love at first song , '' the biography quotes Bob Hope as saying . The couple married the next year and later adopted four children . The couple moved in the late 1930s from New York to California , where he pursued a movie and radio career . Bob Hope was 100 when he died July 27 , 2003 . `` Dolores once said that their longevity could be credited to laughter and they certainly had a lot of that in their lives , '' said actress Alison Arngrim . The family will hold a private funeral at burial at the Bob Hope Memorial Garden , San Fernando Mission , California , where her husband was interred .
NEW : `` She was the First Lady of the USO , '' Bob Hope says . She met Carol Channing in 1933 when she was singing at a Los Angeles club . Vogue Club put her singing career on hold to raise four adopted children . Bob Hope was 100 when he died in 1933 .