Leonard Victor Short, Jr.

Leonard Victor Short, Jr., was given first and middle names seemingly designed as counterweights to the diminutive meaning of his last. It appeared to work. After living an extraordinarily full life, Len died at age 94 on August 3, 2026, at home in Orleans, surrounded by family.
 
A diehard independent and stubborn New Englander, Len was raised in Lexington, MA, by parents Leonard V. Short, Sr., MD, and Winifred Hurley Short. He was the oldest sibling to sister Winifred (Wendy) Short Markus and brother Glenn Butler Short, DDS. Curious and an outgoing leader, he set out early to find out how things worked, whether inviting himself to ride along with the driver of the town’s horse-drawn milk cart, keeping a menagerie of animals that included a “de-scented” skunk, or stepping up at age nine to be “man of the house” when their father left for three years of service during World War II. He graduated from Brown & Nichols and spent his freshman year at Kenyon College before entering the Army and serving in wartime Korea and then Japan, where he wrote news copy for NHK. He fell in love with Japan and, upon his return, brewed a pot of loose-leaf green tea at lunch for the rest of his life.
 
The summer before his military service, while working on his family’s cranberry bog in Marshfield, he met camp counselor and Wheelock student Sandra (Sandy) Carret Smith, whom he would marry when he returned from Asia. He finished his BA in Communications at Boston University and was forever grateful for the GI Bill’s assistance with his education. He spent time writing at the Boston Herald Traveler before joining the corporate world with a job at Hamilton Beach and then moving to New Hampshire for a public relations position. With his experience and an interest in politics, he went on to become the public relations director for presidential candidate Nelson Rockefeller and proudly remembered calls with legendary newsmen like Walter Cronkite.
 
Together with Sandy, they raised four children in New Ipswich, NH: Leonard V. Short, III, Elizabeth (Libby) Haynes Russ, Thomas Page Short, and James Garrison Short. Small-town life was very much to their liking, and they devoted themselves to the area by becoming local employers through their mail-order business, Sundials and More. An innovator, Len delved into all aspects of the business, from working with foundries all over New England and the world, to photography, to the early adoption of computers to manage the customer database. Len would also go on to use his booming voice and campaign experience to become town moderator and sit on the school board, helping to build the new regional high school, Mascenic.
 
After 26 years of marriage and a long battle with breast cancer, Len sadly lost Sandy in 1981. In an interesting twist that maybe only the husbands of the Wheelock Class of 1955 might notice, he went on to marry two more members of that same class. While the first of those marriages ended in divorce (he said his greatest regret of that marriage was the loss of a dear friend), the second, to Sally Orcutt Short, now deceased, was long, fulfilling, and in many ways, resurrecting. In their late 60s and 70s, they built a thriving business making and selling their “One Hand Salad Servers” at craft shows and shops across the country. In their RV, they traveled all over including deep into Mexico, only returning when their freezer full of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream ran out. And it was Sally who brought Len to his last chapter in Orleans.
 
In Orleans, Len became a devoted friend to new acquaintances and an active advocate for the environment. He joined and later became president of the Orleans Pond Coalition, which passionately promotes improving water quality. Using his background in communications and politics, he helped successfully shepherd a 20-year campaign to start transitioning the town to centralized wastewater treatment, known locally as “sewering.” As his children often observed, he wasn’t afraid of stepping in some s*$!. He again lost a few dear friends because of his convictions. But he was particularly proud to work alongside so many committed citizens, and some of those lost friends eventually came around. The town recognized his efforts by naming him Orleans Citizen of the Year in 2018. He also served with dedication on the Cape Cod Commission and the Orleans Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners. And he became known for two catchphrases: “I call the question!” at town meeting and “I’m still vertical!” to anyone who asked how he was doing.
 
Among his many passions, his greatest was woodworking. A visit to his shop was like stepping into a living museum, with a collection of hand planes and other tools like few others. Dyslexic, he also surprisingly built an extensive library of books on woodworking, sundials, and photography.
 
In his final years, Len was the beneficiary of the devoted friendship of so many in town and beyond. It was noted that he “chummed the waters” by clumsily working his iPhone in the morning, making calls, leaving messages, and seeing what he might pull up later that day. He died rich in social capital, and his family is eternally grateful for the community’s support.

In addition to his siblings and children, Len is survived by nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
 
A gathering to remember Len will be held at his and Sally’s home in Orleans, on Mayflower Point, on September 11, 2026 from 2–4 p.m. All are welcome.

For those interested, donations can be made in his memory to either the Orleans Pond Coalition or the Orleans Police Relief Association.

For online condolences, please visit tinyurl.com/lenshort