[4][5][6] During the 1980s, she managed her husband's career and was the executive producer of his 1987 album, In Dreams: The Greatest Hits, plus his January 1988 televised music special, Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night.

Following her husband's death on December 6, 1988, she took charge of his business affairs and dedicated herself to promoting his music to subsequent generations.

Although she maintained a residence on the West Coast, she returned to Nashville where she purchased a home as well as a commercial property to house her music publishing business.

For Showtime, in 1990, she produced a Roy Orbison tribute at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles that raised in excess of $1 million for the city's homeless.

She personally funded "Orbison House", a 21-unit residence for the mentally impaired homeless of Los Angeles.