Lillian Dake Heath

Lillian Dake Heath (née Lillian Josephine Dake; August 2, 1864 – August 13, 1961) was an American painter, printmaker, and educator. She was known for her oil paintings and watercolors of landscapes, mountains and California missions. Heath also worked in the decorative arts, with painted fine china, and weaving. She is considered one of the pioneering artists in the city of Santa Cruz. to parents Eliza Josephine (née Du Four) and Mose W. Dake. Her father died when she was a child. In 1877, as a teenager she moved with her widowed mother to Santa Cruz, California, where he mother married judge W. D. Storey. She graduated from Santa Cruz High School.

Career and late life

In her early career Heath worked as a teacher at the Powder Mill Flat (now Paradise Park) starting in 1883. She left teaching in order to move to New York City and study art. Dake married her teacher Frank Lucien Heath on September 22, 1897 in Santa Cruz, California. They did not have any children. After marriage she lived at 1025 Third Street in Santa Cruz (formerly 21 Third Street), which was the Lucien Heath family home and is now demolished. and was a member of the Santa Cruz Women's Club. Heath was a long time member of the First Methodist Church (now the United Methodist Church Of Santa Cruz) in Santa Cruz. Heath died at age 97 on August 13, 1961, in Santa Cruz County, California. She was interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Santa Cruz.