[Kobi]

DETROIT (AP) — Early in her husband's political career, Helen Milliken dutifully played the role of unassuming, supportive spouse. But she evolved into an outspoken advocate of women's rights, the environment and other issues close to her heart during her record 14 years as Michigan's first lady.

Milliken campaigned vigorously for abortion rights and the ill-fated Equal Rights Amendment, which stated equality of rights "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

She drew the wrath of the outdoor advertising industry shortly after her husband, Republican William Milliken, became governor in 1969, when she criticized highway billboards as unsightly clutter. And at her urging, her husband hiked the Pigeon River State Forest while governor and later decided to limit oil and gas development in the scenic forest.

It was the couple's daughter, Elaine, a lawyer and feminist, who died of cancer in 1993, who influenced her mother to take a stand for women's equality. Helen Milliken served as national co-chair of ERAmerica and was a delegate to the International Women's Year conference in Houston. Her other board memberships included the Women's Resource Center and the Michigan Land Use Institute.

Even into her 80s, she remained active in community affairs and as an environmentalist. Milliken helped organize a foreign policy lecture series at Northwest Michigan College and took a course on the life of Mozart.

Milliken co-founded ArtrainUSA, an art museum housed in rail cars that visited more than 850 communities across the U.S. since 1971.

She told The Associated Press in 2006 about her concerns that many younger women were shying away from political activism and the "feminist" label.

"They don't know their history," she said at the time. "Young women take so much for granted now."

Feminism, she said, had "been redefined and misinterpreted" by conservatives as wild-eyed radicalism.

"Nobody ever saw anybody burn a bra; they're too expensive," she said. "But the myth has survived. There have been excesses, but the goal has always remained the same: equal opportunity for women."

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