Shelley Brothers, co-owner of Capitol Hill’s the Wildrose passed away this week, the pioneering lesbian bar announced on social media yesterday. Brothers dedicated her life to the bar, working hard to keep it alive through tribulations of all kinds—recessions, the pandemic, the fading of lesbian bars, and even the advent of Grindr. She kept a vigilant and protective watch over the space, making sure that it not only survived, but did so as the sanctuary for queer people it had always been.

“Shelley was/is a queer icon in Seattle,” Seattle PrideFest posted of Brothers, who led the organization’s parade in 2015 with her Wildrose co-owner Martha Manning. “She was dogged in her commitment to the Rose, community-minded at every step, and loved tending bar to her ever-expanding community.”

The Wildrose was founded in 1984, making it one of the oldest lesbian bars in the country and one a dwindling few that remain—something it accomplished in large part thanks to Brothers. Brothers became a co-owner of the bar in 2002, but first stepped foot in the bar 10 years earlier—and was promptly thrown out for trying to order hard liquor when it only had a tavern license. She was welcomed back the next day, and went on to work there in various capacities before joining the ownership group, and eventually taking it over with Manning in 2005.

Tributes to Brothers are pouring onto the bar’s social media page, including a heartfelt note from former employee BenDeLaCreme, who called her an inspiration. “Shelley led by example showing us how to create community,” the noted drag queen wrote. “Shelley’s smile, her laugh, are etched in my mind forever. She made the world so much better.”

Brothers and Manning shepherded the bar through its 30^th anniversary, scrambled to stay afloat through the pandemic, then celebrated the bar's 40^th last year. “Every bar evolves and changes over time. But I don’t see why it would need to go away,” Brothers told The Seattle Times in 2014. “There’s always gonna be a need for a place where people can get together and feel safe, and that’s what we try to offer.”

As an impromptu community center, the Wildrose often donated its space to fundraisers and served as a venue for weddings and funerals. That makes it the most fitting space in the city to host a celebration of Brothers’ life, which it will do on Sunday, February 16.