Sally Hartshorne
Sarah Jane Dickson Hartshorne – Sally, as she was known – died peacefully September 6 at the Center for Extended Care in Amherst, Massachusetts.
She was born October 27, 1928, in Montclair, New Jersey, to Charles Keith Dickson and Anne Brown Dickson. She grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut, and attended Rosemary Hall in Wallingford. She graduated from Vassar College in 1948.
In 1949 she married Robert Doremus Hartshorne, Jr. and they lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later moved to Dedham, where they raised four sons.
Sally was a member of St. Paul’s Church, the Dedham Choral Society, the League of Women Voters and the town’s Fair Housing Committee.
In 1978 she earned a Master’s Degree from Boston College, where she taught for many years. She also taught at Brown University, where she was awarded a PhD in Literature in 1990. She published a number of scholarly papers about American women writers including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Willa Cather, and Marilynn Robinson.
She loved to share her love of learning with others and acted as a mentor and supporter to many students, colleagues, and friends.
In 1990 Bob and Sally moved to Waterbrooks, the home in South Conway, New Hampshire, where they had spent vacations for many years. Sally was an active member of the South Conway Club and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Conway Public Library, where she helped to oversee a major expansion.
She was a member of the Democratic Party and an early and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama.
Her interests included tending her beautiful gardens, climbing in the White Mountains, sailing on the coast of Maine, traveling the world, cross-country skiing, tennis, bicycling, and above all, reading. She was also a lover of animals and kept numerous dogs, cats, rabbits, and even a pet quail.
She was known to friends and family for her kindness, her lively wit, and her support and understanding in times of need.
During the last year of her life she lost her memory and most of her faculties, but hung on with determination to her love of life, her sense of humor, and her love and consideration for others. She was always ready to make a new friend and have a good laugh. When at last she could no longer speak, she could still smile.
She is survived by her husband Robert, her sons Robert, Stephen, Paul, and Charles, her daughers-in-law Laurie Ellis and Allison Foster, and her granddaughters Sarah and Joanna.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, October 3, at 2 p.m. at the South Deerfield Congregational Church. A second memorial service will be held October 31 at 2 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Tamworth, New Hampshire.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Conway Public Library.
Sally’s granddaughter and namesake has a wonderful entry on her blog, Erratic in Heels.
October 10, 2009 @ 8:30 am
Steve,I would like to convey my condolences to you and all of your family on the loss of your beloved mother. Across many years working with her in the Office of Admissions at Brandeis and decades after as her friend, I came to know Sally quite well—ever beautiful, cheerful, funny, smart, clear-thinking, and wise. She was indeed a reader, a lover of books, a writer, a teacher—and she surely loved literature. Still, among her greatest glories were your warm and wonderful Dad, her four sons and their families—and of course her grandchildren. I loved the cookie-making youtube video with her grandchildren I reached through your niece’s blog – the Sarah who carries her grandmother’s name and, I sense, much of her spirit as well. At Brandeis I loved reading Sally’s interview notes in that inimitable hand of hers, once made famous in an article I believe written by one of your uncles in Esquire magazine called “My Sister-in-Law’s Handwriting.” The article was cute and funny about decoding her script. But I never had trouble with it and thought it so revealing of her: Quick, elegant, upright, smart, and always to the point, with a smile and a wink thrown in, all accomplished in 150 words. Your right: Her smile will remain before all of us who love her and are graced by having her in our lives still; her memory a blessing. My wife Joan joins me in sending deep condolences to all of your family.Michael Kalafatas
October 12, 2009 @ 1:58 pm
Hi Steve, Mike Kalafatas gave me the sad news of your mother's passing and I am so sorry. I met your mother nearly 40 years ago when I was 22 years old and beginning my first job out of college at the Brandeis Admissions Office. How lucky I was to begin my work life in Boston, far from my small-town home in the Midwest with a woman like Sally as a colleague, mentor and role-model. I remember we had a cake on her 41st birthday. I wondered at that, partly, I guess, because I was so young, but more because Sally was ageless. Numbers did not really pertain to her. I wondered, too, when she talked about having been up since 6 am tending her garden and getting Chick-o-shay to school before coming to work…I who had rolled out of bed at 8 and rolled in from Brighton at 9:00! I loved her stories about her 4 boys, Robbie, Steve, Paul and Shay (shady?). As one of 4 sisters growing up, I had an affinity for all-of-a-kind families, and for you, Steve, as I am also #2 of 4. I think of your mother from time to time over the years and as sad as it is to hear of this loss, I have enjoyed thinking of her…no doubt the queen of the Admissions Office: Sally was the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the kindest, the most open and surely, the most fun. I have quoted her over the years: something she taught me when things are very busy and threatening to become overwhelming, "but what are we doing for fun?" My sincere condolences to you and your family.Marcia Gralnek Katz