Peyton Dunn

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/177729735/peyton-elizabeth-dunn

eyton Hawes Dunn, 95, a champion of improving the treatment of animals used in biomedical research, died after a stroke July 18 at the Washington Home.

Mrs. Dunn, who had lived in the Washington area since 1921, was founder of Working for Animals used in Research, Drugs and Surgery (WARDS) and had served as its president for the last 15 years.

She formed the nonprofit animal welfare organization based in Vienna in 1953 and focused its efforts to fund private programs and implement government standards to regulate the care of animals in research. She proposed the creation of boards to oversee private research laboratories that receive federal grants and lobbied and aided the passage of the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act of 1966.

Her lobbying efforts were helped by her contacts and insights into the workings of Congress, an advantage she gained from her father, Sen. Harry Bartow Hawes (D-Mo.). She moved to the Washington area in 1921, when her father, a lawyer and wildlife conservationist, entered Congress. He later served as senator until 1933.

She was a native of St. Louis and a graduate of the University of Missouri. She was a society writer for the Washington Times-Herald and The Washington Post from 1942 to 1945.

She then worked eight years as director of public relations for Children's Hospital.

"Her passion was animal welfare," said Joseph Venable, executive vice president of WARDS. "She had great respect for biomedical research and felt strongly about the benefits it provided humans and animals, but she was dedicated to a standard of humane care for animals."

She was a volunteer for the Washington Animal Rescue League. She attended Chevy Chase United Methodist Church and was a member of the National Press Club and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.

Her marriage to Henderson Dunn ended in divorce. She leaves no immediate survivors.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/07/20/animal-advo...