Dorli Rainey (born Dorothea Theresia Hantich; December 12, 1926 – August 12, 2022) was an Austrian-American political activist. After being

pepper-sprayed Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, mace, or capsicum spray is a lachrymator (tear gas) product containing as its active ingredient the chemical compound capsaicin, which irritates the eyes with burning and pain ...

at an

Occupy Seattle Occupy Seattle was a series of demonstrations in Seattle, Washington, United States in 2011 and 2012, that formed part of the wider Occupy movement taking place in numerous U.S. and world cities at that time. The demonstrations were particular ...

protest by police, she became one of the faces of the

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a left-wing populist movement against economic inequality, capitalism, corporate greed, big finance, and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial ...

movement. Born in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, Rainey spent her childhood involved in learning nursing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

before going to medical college and working for the United States military as a translator. Marrying an American engineer, she moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, and became heavily involved in local political and social issues. She won a seat on a school board and ran for political office as a county council member and later as mayor of Seattle, but lost both times. She was a frequent participant in protest movements on various topics, particularly local environmental, housing, and public health issues, though she also attended major protests for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

and

racial justice Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

Childhood and education

Born as Dorothea Theresia Hantich in

on December 12, 1926, to a railroad worker and

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their Lineage (anthropology), lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family ...

father, Teja Hantich, and a

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

nurse mother, Dora (Schwarz) Hantich, Rainey spent her childhood working alongside her mother and learned nursing during World War II. Near the end of the war, she moved to Salzburg, Germany to attend medical college and then worked as a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

for the United States military in

. She additionally helped to organize the military's motor pool for their activities.

Career and activism

After marrying in 1955, Rainey and her husband moved to Seattle, Washington, after he was hired by

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

. She wanted to be more involved with the social community, so gave up her practice of nursing and became a

real estate agent Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...

. She also spent her time volunteering as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused children and worked as a

sunday school ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...

teacher. In the 1970s, she joined a school board in

Issaquah, Washington Issaquah ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 40,051 at the 2020 census. Located in a valley and bisected by Interstate 90, the city is bordered by the Sammamish Plateau to the north and the " Issaquah ...

, but found that the other board members were a part of the

John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, right-wing populist, and ...

and she successfully campaigned to have them lose their next elections to the board. In 1975, she ran for the King County Council Seat 6 in the Republican primary against incumbent Tom Forsyth after she received endorsements from the local

Young Republicans The Young Republican National Federation, commonly referred to as the Young Republicans or YRNF, is a 527 organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization ...

group, but her campaign lost by 589 votes. Beginning in 2004 and through 2010, she spent every Thursday handing out political leaflets as a member of the

Women in Black Women in Black () is a women's anti-war movement with an estimated 10,000 activists around the world. The first group was formed by Israeli women in Jerusalem in 1988, following the outbreak of the First Intifada. History Responding to what ...

. In 2009, she ran for mayor of Seattle, but decided to leave the race due to her age. Her activism work included a wide range of topics, such as ending

homelessness Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

, environmental damage from human development on

Lake Sammamish Lake Sammamish is a freshwater lake east of Seattle in King County, Washington, United States. The lake is long and wide, with a maximum depth of and a surface area of . It lies east of Lake Washington and west of the Sammamish Plateau, a ...

, improving public transit availability, activism against large banking conglomerates and nuclear weapons, and

women's equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

and racial justice.

Occupy Seattle incident

As a member of Occupy Seattle, Rainey was on her way to a street safety meeting on November 15, 2011, but noticed large amounts of police activity around a known protest location at Fifth and Pine Avenue. Joining the protesters, Rainey was pepper-sprayed by police and other members of Occupy Seattle tried to assist her by pouring milk over her eyes. This action was photographed by news crews and the photo

went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensations are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the te ...

, resulting in her becoming the face of the Occupy movement at the time. The mayor, Mike McGinn, apologized to Rainey after the incident. She gave McGinn a list of concerns about police action in the city and he told her that changes would be made to policy, particularly those involving the use of pepper spray, though the changes made were ignored by police in future incidents.

Personal life

Rainey married an American engineer named Max Rainey in 1955 in Austria. They later divorced after having a son and a daughter together. She died at a hospital in Seattle on August 12, 2022, at the age of 95. She considered herself "the biggest fan" for the WNBA's

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

. She ran her own

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

titled ''Old Lady in Combat Boots''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rainey, Dorli 1926 births 2022 deaths Activists from Seattle American real estate brokers American women bloggers American bloggers Austrian emigrants to the United States Austrian nurses Austrian activists Austrian women activists Occupy movement in the United States People from Graz School board members in Washington (state) American women nurses