Some in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., are mourning the loss of a once-influential and power-adjacent political voice.

Kitty Dukakis, the wife of failed 1988 Democratic candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, died on Friday at the age of 88, the Associated Press reported.

She was known as a humanitarian who focused on refugees, for being open with the public about her years of alcohol and drug abuse, and for her advocacy for electroconvulsive shock therapy as a treatment for depression and other ailments.

Beloved by her family and others

Fox News reported that, according to multiple sources, including her son John, Kitty Dukakis died from complications of dementia at her home in Brookline, Massachusetts, while "surrounded by family."

"She was born on December 26, 1936, and lived a full life fighting to make the world a better place and sharing her vulnerabilities to help others face theirs," John said of his mother. "She was loving, feisty, and fun, and had a keen sensitivity to people from all walks of life."

"She and our dad, Michael Dukakis, shared an enviable partnership for over 60 years and loved each other deeply," he added. "Thank you to all who have touched our lives over the years or who were touched by our mother."

The passing of the former first lady of Massachusetts was noted by the state's current Democratic governor, Maura Healey, who said in an X post, "Kitty Dukakis was a force for good in public life and behind the scenes."

"The causes she championed -- recovery, gender equality, human rights, and more -- made a real difference in people’s lives," she added. "Sending love to Governor Dukakis and their family."

Wife, mother, and campaigner

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as Katherine Virginia Dickson to a violinist and orchestra-conducting father and an "abrasive, demanding" mother who nicknamed her Kitty, Dukakis dropped out of college to marry her first husband and have a baby, only to get divorced shortly thereafter, according to The Washington Post.

Now a single mother, she re-enrolled in college and there met a young lawyer with political aspirations named Michael, and despite her being Jewish and him being Greek Orthodox, not to mention vastly different personalities, they hit it off and were married in 1963, with him adopting her young son and them going on to have two daughters of their own.

As the first lady of Massachusetts in the late 1970s and again in the mid- to late-1980s, Kitty's major focus was on supporting refugees from war-torn regions of the world and strongly supporting her husband's failed 1988 presidential campaign against then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, who would later appoint her to a commission that helped create the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C.

Addiction, depression, and electroshock therapy

It was during that 1988 presidential campaign, per The Post, that Kitty Dukakis went public about her quarter-century of abusing amphetamine pills and alcohol, with her alcoholism landing her in a rehab facility and later a hospital following the crushing electoral defeat, which she discussed at length, as well as her troubled relationship with her mother, in a 1990 memoir.

Later in life, after trying multiple remedies to treat her depression, alcoholism, and other issues, Dukakis found success with electroconvulsive therapy and became a huge proponent of the shocking treatments.

She is survived by her husband, her three children, and seven grandchildren who will undoubtedly be joined by many others in mourning her loss.