Dorothy “Dot” Hemmings-Bassett

August 4, 1936 – July 8, 2024

Harwich Port - Dorothy Hemmings-Bassett has played an essential part in the rich tapestry of the town of Harwich for over sixty years as a musician, businesswoman, lover of culture, theatre, conservation, and long walks at Harwich’s many beaches, particularly Earl Road. Dot’s zest for life and her proactive way of “getting things done” will be profoundly missed by the countless friends and family members she leaves behind.

Dot was born Dorothy Elizabeth Gray in 1936 in Greenwich, Connecticut to Norman and Ruth (Glenn) Gray. She graduated from Stamford High School and completed a two-year secretarial course through The Katharine Gibbs School in New York City. Further education included an Associate of Arts with honors from Cape Cod Community College and a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Skidmore College University Without Walls just before her 60th birthday. She was a co-recipient of the Cape Cod Community College Alumnus of the Year Award in 1987.

Dot’s professional career spanned many service organizations. She was a licensed insurance broker, legislative aide to the state representative, and executive assistant to the superintendents of Harwich Public Schools, among other professional roles. In 1977, she was the national winner in a public speaking competition sponsored by the National Association of Insurance Women International, and in 1980, she was chosen as Cape Cod’s Business Woman of the Year by the Business and Professional Women’s Organization of Cape Cod.

Dot was a member of Friends of the Harwich Town Band (President), Friends of Brooks Free Library (President), a member of The Harwich Historical Society, and a town election worker for fifty-five years, most of them as Registrar of Voters. As a member of The Harwich Cultural Council, she organized a fund-raising trip to Italy in 2008. Fifty-two tour group participants enjoyed an eight-day trip that raised money for the Cultural Council. More recently, Dot has volunteered her time with Nauset Neighbors.

Travel became a part of Dot’s life’s mosaic when husband Jack’s thirst for travel led them to Bermuda, England, Scotland, and France. As RV enthusiasts for over a decade, they traveled the perimeter of the United States, a 365-day trip, visiting the many wondrous attractions in this country, as well as exploring all of the Central American countries, highlights being Teatro Nacional in Costa Rica and standing atop a volcano in El Salvador. The couple visited the five canyons of Mexico on their last trip south of the border.

Dot’s interests in music and conservation came together when she wrote the children’s book The Piano in the Marsh: A Cape Cod Mystery, published in 2016 and inspired by the discovery of an abandoned piano at Bell’s Neck Conservation Area in November 2008. This fictionalized version about the real-life story of a piano that was mysteriously left on Harwich conservation land gave the discarded piano a life to be remembered, weaving the story into the fabric of the town. The piano is now housed at the Brooks Academy Museum in Harwich Center.

Music was a thread that ran through Dot’s life, one of her joys that she openly shared with the communities of Cape Cod. Classically trained at a young age, Dot played piano in “pit” orchestras throughout her years on the Cape, and, as a free-lance accompanist, she worked with choral groups, vocal soloists, and instrumentalists. She was one of four classical pianists who concertized as Piano Fiesta to benefit the Citizens Scholarship Foundation in Harwich and Chatham for over twelve years and has participated in productions with the Harwich High School Chorus, Harwich Junior Theatre, Harwich Winter Theatre, Chatham Drama Guild, and Orleans Highlanders.

Over the past few years, Dot has been involved with the Cape Cod Ukulele Club led by Cathy Hatch, who taught her the joy of ukulele playing. Making music into her last year, Dot performed a two-piano ensemble at her home in Harwich Port, “Spring Soirée,” with friend Susan Barrett, who says that Dot will always be an angel on her shoulder. Dot intends to be making music into the hereafter.

Dot is pre-deceased by daughter Lisa Gray Sheridan and husbands David Bassett, John J. “Jack” Hemmings, Sheldon J. Thayer, Jr. and Stephen P. Sheridan.

She is survived by her son Stephen P. Sheridan, Jr. (Pam Kelly), grandchildren Nicholas Carlson and Katherine Carlson, her sister Marjorie Walsh (William), niece Susan Hardy Stolp (Jackson), nephew James Hardy, and niece Anne Hardy, as well as stepchildren Lynn, Jeff, and Sandi (David Bassett); Susan, Joe, Michael, Kathy, and John (Jack Hemmings); Dawn, David, and Deane (Sheldon Thayer), and many step-grandchildren.

She also leaves her good friend Joy Polito and her closest friend for many years, Craig Garling.

A Celebration of Life, in honor of Dot, will be held on Monday, July 22, 2024, from 12 pm to 3 pm at The Marshside, 28 Bridge Street, East Dennis, MA 02641.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to the nonprofit Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) by check payable to HCT and mailed to P.O. Box 101, South Harwich, MA 02661 or online at www.harwichconservationtrust.org

The family wishes to thank the staff of Rosewood Manor and Broad Reach Hospice for their kind, compassionate, and dedicated care of Dorothy while she was at Rosewood.

Notes of comfort may be made to Dot’s family at www.chapmanfuneral.com