Former Wis. first lady Dreyfus dies

Associated Press

Updated: Mar 16, 2012 10:55 AM

WAUKESHA (AP) — The wife of former Wisconsin Gov. Lee Dreyfus has died at age 84 following complications from surgery.

Family members say Joyce Dreyfus died Thursday at Waukesha Memorial Hospital where she had undergone surgery to relieve bleeding on the brain following a fall at an assisted living center in Pewaukee.

Her son, Lee Dreyfus Jr., said his mother apparently suffered a stroke and never woke up from surgery.

Gov. Dreyfus, a Republican, served from 1979 to 1983. He died in 2008 at age 81. Aside from campaigning with her husband and serving as the state's first lady, her son says his mother loved the theater and performed in local acting groups over the years.

Lee Dreyfus Jr. says his parents grew up blocks from each other in Milwaukee. They married in 1947.

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