Janice (Potter) Dorchester
Oct 6th, 2019
Janice (Potter) Dorchester of West Yarmouth, MA died on October 6, 2019 at the age of 95. Janice was born September 20, 1924 in Windsor, CT to Henry James and Lois (Wood) Potter. She was the youngest of their three children and their only daughter. Jan graduated salutatorian from John Fitch High School in 1942 and graduated from Katherine Gibbs in Providence, RI in 1944 and went to work for the Fuller Brush Company.
She married her childhood sweetheart, Douglas Freese Dorchester on December 15, 1945 in her parent’s home in Windsor. They moved from Windsor to Woodmont, CT so Doug could complete his divinity degree at Yale University. They were married for 70 years and had five children, six grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Jan was a renaissance woman; an award- winning watercolorist; a musician, both voice and piano; a genealogist who wrote seven books; and a designer who drew the plans for their two retirement homes
She and Doug loved musicals and travel. They saw Oklahoma in New York on their honeymoon and went regularly into the city for shows when they lived in New Jersey. Their travels took them to the British Isles, Portugal, Bermuda, Nassau and all over the United States.
Jan loved to swim. Both retirement homes were near the water, the first in Connecticut near Mystic. In the 1960s they sold that home and built in Oak Bluffs on the Lagoon. She encouraged all her children and grandchildren to learn to swim and spent many happy hours on the beach with all ages of kids. Her goal each year was to swim every day from Memorial Day to September 20, her birthday. Many years she did just that.
Jan leaves: four children, Dee Aukamp of Falmouth, MA, Ellen Langwig of Schoharie, NY, Marcy Dorchester of Albuquerque, NM, and Don Dorchester, of West Yarmouth, MA: six grandchildren, and six great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and many friends and fellow artists. She was predeceased by her husband, Doug, and their son, Jim.
A Celebration of her life will be held at the Bourne United Methodist Church, 37 Sandwich Road, Bourne, MA 02532 at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, November 3, 2019. Contributions in her memory may be made to Broad Reach Hospice and Palliative Care, 390 Orleans Road, Chatham, MA 02633, UNICEFUSA.org, or to the charity of one’s choice.