Dorothy Marion Sawyer of New Gloucester, died peacefully February 6, 2024 at Seaside Rehabilitation Center in Portland, Maine.
Dot was born May 17, 1933 in Auburn, a daughter of Oscar Louis and Ruth Healy Sawyer. She attended Auburn and Bowdoinham schools, graduating from Edward Little High School, the Auburn School of Commerce and Richard School of Stenography. Her career included time with Kerr Electric, Knapp Shoe, Hood’s Mailing, Trafton & Scales, Bates Mill and the Division of Public Health Nursing of the Maine Dept. of Human Services.
After moving from Auburn to the Sawyer family farm in New Gloucester in 1991, the remainder of Dot’s working life was spent caring for young children in her home daycare, a role she truly enjoyed. Many little ones were gifted Dot’s home-sewn clothing and lovingly hand decorated dollhouses.
Dot and sister Pat made the Sawyer farm on North Pownal Road a welcoming place, hosting cookouts, kite flying, pond-skating, sledding and x-country skiing gatherings for family and friends. Brother Jim and his wife Elaine lived nearby, making for many shared birthday and holiday celebrations.
Dot was an active member of the First Congregational church of New Gloucester, a choir member and Sunday school volunteer. She enjoyed travel, and spoke of her cross country road trip to California as a young woman, several memorable trips to Disney World, and visits to family members across the country. She also loved her cats, and shared her home with at least one or more furry friends throughout her life.
A self described “outdoor person,” Dot enjoyed swimming, canoeing, camping, exploring the fields and woods at the farm, and snowmobiling from the camp she and her friend Gerry Tourigny owned in Greenwood.
Dot had a lifelong interest in photography, and was the family’s resident filmmaker during the mid twentieth century. She created many photos and film reels chronicling family events to be enjoyed by her relatives for years.
Dot was predeceased by her parents, siblings Richard, James, Duane, Patricia and foster sister Martina Wilkinson. She is survived by sisters-in-law Christine Sawyer, Gorham and Elaine Sawyer, Lynden WA; nieces Margaret Meyers (Bob), Bath and Karen Marsalek (John), Minneapolis MN; nephews John Sawyer (Rhonda) and David Sawyer, Gorham, and Michael Sawyer (Lisa), Edmonds WA.
A memorial gathering will be held at the convenience of the family.
— Read the obituary at Legacy.com
