Audrey McCall, the wife of former Republican Gov. Tom McCall, died late Thursday at a Portland care center. She was 92.

McCall, whose husband died almost a quarter-century ago, broke a hip this summer and her health steadily declined, her son, Tom (Tad) McCall Jr., told The Oregonian newspaper, which reported the death Friday on its affiliated Web site.

“Audrey McCall was as much of an Oregon icon as her husband was,” Gov. Ted Kulongoski said. “She was a strong partner to Tom McCall and throughout her life was as committed as he was to make Oregon a better place for all its citizens.”

McCall was Oregon’s first lady from 1967 to 1975, a period when her husband and the state became known for efforts on behalf of the environment. After her husband’s 1983 death, McCall sought to carry on that legacy.

She was active in several statewide ballot measures, and was a party to a lawsuit that upended Ballot Measure 7, a 2000 property-rights measure that weakened the land-use laws that her husband helped establish.

“Audrey really personified what Oregon was all about,” said Jack McGowan, executive director of SOLV, the beach cleanup program founded by Tom McCall.

Among her last acts was to help plan a statue of her late husband. Some wanted it located in Portland and others wanted it in Salem. McCall said her husband’s work was accomplished in Salem, and that’s where it should go.

She won and it’s destined for Salem’s Riverfront Park.

McCall is survived by a sister, Phyllis Royer of Kennewick, Wash.; by her son, Tad, and his wife, Kitty Taimi, of Arlington, Va.; and by two grandchildren.

She will be buried Nov. 24 in Redmond, next to her husband and her son, Sam.