1897 – 1994

My Grandmother Dottie was the essence of “Yankee”. She was born in Middleborough, MA and grew up in New Bedford. She had the patience, poise, and manners of a duchess but her whaling heritage always seemed close to the surface of her personality.

After my grandfather Bunny passed away I lived in the apartment above their garage for many years. Through the seasons I could look out  my kitchen window and see Dottie walking up or down the laneway, most times wearing the same outfit: boots or loafers, tan colored knee socks, a tartan wool skirt and, during the colder months, an all weather coat that about swallowed her slight frame. Topping off the ensemble was a wool beret and a walking cane.

I met my wife Galen in 1980 and coaxed Dottie down to Little Compton from Gloucester to have a look around in 1983. Before we married, Galen and I agreed that it might be a wise idea for us to live together for a time. We agonized over having to ask Dottie if we could do so in the apartment. We finally got up the nerve and marched into her living room one afternoon. We asked and she surprised us. “Oh, goodness me”, she said. “Go ahead and do it. Life is just too complicated these days!”

Clark Snow

April 2020

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