Former Longview artist and businesswoman Betty Jean Hance-Brady died Nov. 2, 2009, in Salem, attended by her friends and family. She was 84.

The owner of Hance-Brady Studio in Longview from the early 1970s through around 1990, she showcased the work of artists from the Lower Columbia region and around the Northwest.

“She really wanted to support the local artists,” said Kalama watercolor artist Marie Wise, who showed her work at the studio in 1988. “I remember her as a charming lady who was very supportive of my artwork at the time and was willing to allow me to display.”

The gallery also offered picture framing and art restoration services. Before moving to Longview in 1967, Hance-Brady owned the Studio, a successful art and music store in St. Helens, Ore.

A professional framer since the 1950s, she was a member of the Professional Picture Framers Association. Her expertise was known throughout the Northwest, with customers driving for miles to bring their work to her for framing rather than using nearby businesses, said her middle son, Howard.

“She was very, very good at her framing,” he said. “Just excellent.”

She brought artists with widespread fame to Longview, such as Colville Tribe artist/storyteller Ken “Rainbow Cougar” Edwards, who showed at her studio in 1985 and afterward performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Another was Albert Patecky (1977 show), an Oregon artist whose resume included exhibitions in Paris, Rome, Cologne and New York.

“We kind of took it stride, as kids do,” her son said. “Everybody’s got famous artists coming by for lunch, right? I don’t think it really hit us as something other than normal for years and years and years.”

Though she’s well-known now, Wise had a small body of work when she exhibited in 1988.

“My children were small and I had just got back into doing some artwork,” she said. “That was the first time I exhibited anything in this community. Of course, my work was small and, compared to the other artists, was not as impressive, but I felt very honored that she would allow me to do that.”

Watercolorist Jim Westall of Scappoose met Hance-Brady in the 1970s. He taught art classes at her studio and exhibited there regularly.

“All in all I’d say she’s probably top drawer as far as a friend went,” he said. “She helped me a lot. She was a great lady, and I think she’ll be missed by a lot of people.”

Born Dec. 2, 1925, in Hillsboro, Ore., she was the youngest of four children born to Robert and Nina Medill. Her older siblings were Mari, Robert and Nellie.

She was an excellent student in grade school and went on to major in art in college.

Her paintings were primarily abstract and impressionist, in both oils and acrylics, and usually inspired by rivers, rocks and forests of the Northwest. She held several one-woman shows, including two at the Portland Art Museum.

She met her first husband, Howard Walter Hance, while working in her mother’s restaurant during World War II. As she loved to tell it, a soldier in uniform walked in and she was struck by “the handsomest man I’d ever seen.” They were married in Eugene in 1942 and had three sons, Larry, Howard (“Mitch”) and Bart. The marriage later ended. She met her second husband, James Robert Brady, in Longview and they were married there in 1973.

She moved to Salem in 1990. In her later years, she devoted most of her time to the South Salem Seniors’ Center. She was always eager to help anyone and made a large number of close friends who will miss her dearly, said friend Gaynelle Henderson of Salem.

“She was a dear, dear friend and I’ll love her forever,” she said. “She was a hard, hard worker. She did a lot of work for the Seniors’ Center. She started the rummage sale and started the boutique fashion show. She was a friend to everybody. We were friends through sad, glad and mad.”

James Brady preceded her in death. Survivors include her sons, Larry Hance of Fairview, Ore., Howard Hance of Snohomish, Wash., and Bart Hance of St. Helens; Ramona Berg of Cottage Grove, Ore., whom she raised and who was like a daughter to her; a niece, Nina (Jack) Nolan of Marcola, Ore.; nephews Steve (Mary) Madill of Durango, Colo., and Chuck (Cheri) Madill of Klamath Falls, Ore.; and three grandchildren.

Her memorial will be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 5 at South Salem Seniors Center, 6450 Fairway Ave. S.E., Salem. Donations are suggested to the center in her name.