Lorraine Wetle, Retired District 9 Assistant, Dies

Lorraine Wetle, 76, retired assistant to the District 9 vice president, died April 11 following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

"Lorraine was a great trade unionist who helped build CWA," said District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler. "She will be missed."

Wetle joined CWA when she was hired by Pacific Telephone in its San Francisco benefits department in 1966. She rose through the ranks of Local 9423 in San Jose, serving as steward, treasurer, vice president and president.

Also a member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, first vice president of the Santa Clara Central Labor Council and an active community volunteer, she was in 1981 named CWA District 9 Woman of the Year.

Wetle joined the staff as a CWA representative in 1983, serving in the Burlingame, Calif., district office. She was named administrative assistant in February 1992 and promoted to assistant four months later. She retired in December 1996.

Wetle chaired the 1992 and 1995 Pacific/Nevada Bell bargaining committees and, said Bixler, "She was a leader who fought for the operators so that they would have a decent living wage."

She is survived by two sons, Michael and David; two brothers, David and Stephen Robinson; a sister, Phoebe Robinson, and four grandchildren.