Dorothy J. Wellcome

Dorothy J. Wellcome (Lewis), a lifelong resident of Waltham, died peacefully Sunday, August 15, 2010 with her devoted daughter and primary caretaker, Virginia, and her immediate family at her side at her home in Wakefield due to complications of Parkinson’s Disease and Hydrocephalus. She was 81.

Dorothy was a proud descendant of Sir Henry Wellcome of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, and London, England. Sir Henry, along with Silas Burroughs, founded the pharmaceutical firm Burroughs Wellcome, PLC, now known as Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) successor firm to Glaxo-Wellcome. He was knighted by King George V in 1932 for his contributions to medicine and upon his death, under the terms of his will, created The Wellcome Trust, presently one of the world’s largest philanthropic charities.

Dorothy was the beloved second daughter and third child of New England’s well known tenor, Arthur Wellcome and his wife and noted concert pianist and vocalist, A. Edna (Barden) Wellcome (formerly of W. Paris, Maine), both also lifelong residents of Waltham. Arthur and Edna were married for 50 years and were best known as the “Wellcome Singers” for their weekly radio program on WORL in Boston which aired between 1922 and 1955. Arthur and his father owned and operated the successful heating and engineering firm known as Frank D. Wellcome & Son between 1915 and 1939. Upon Frank’s death in 1939, Arthur sold the business and joined Buckley & Scott of Weston and Needham, where he remained until retiring in 1975. Dorothy loved her heritage and came from a long line of doctors and ministers.

A noted vocalist and renowned concert pianist in her own right, Dorothy was a child prodigy. She opened for Sergei Rachmanioff in Boston at the age of nine, and played Frederic Chopin’s most difficult concerto, Fantasie Impromptu. Arthur emceed the event and was often quoted as saying, “Dorothy played the fantasie masterfully, but I couldn’t see her through my tears. … Sergei was absolutely mesmerized by what he heard from this tiny girl as he watched her little fingers dance upon the keys. … His massive hands appeared as long as her torso.” Dorothy often accompanied her parents on their weekly radio program in Boston, as well as performing in concert in all the New England States, including Sundays at Boston’s Mt. Vernon Church on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street.

Whether she played for Mohammed Ali at the Grosvenor House in London’s Hyde Park in 1984; Omar Sheriff and Dr. Abdel Meguid (former Deputy Prime Minister of Egypt under Anwar Sadat) at the Nile Hilton in Cairo, Egypt in 1985; Mrs. Grace Laboy Kahn (wife of the well-known lyricist Gus Kahn) at her home on Ambassador Dive in Beverly Hills, California in 1983; Dapper O’Neil at Nicks Comedy Stop in the theater district of Boston in the 1970’s (where Dapper often required her to regale the audience with her vocal rendition of Danny Boy); patrons at the Café Budepest in Boston’s Copley Square (where she played “chamber music” at the request of owner/manager Gladyz Truppen); or the patrons at her regular “jazz clubs” like the Mills Falls Restaurant in Newton Lower Falls, the Holiday Inn of Newton, the Holiday of Waltham, Piety Corner Gardens Restaurant in Waltham, the Scotch & Sirloin in Boston; the reviews were always the same, “Bravo.” She would reduce parishioners to tears whether she sang Puccini’s O Mio Babbino Caro or Shubert’s Ave Maria. Her favorite classical piano concerto was Chopin’s Etude, Opus. 10, No. 3. From Classical, to Opera, to the American Songbook, and to Honky Tonk, she could sing and play it all.

Gus Kahn’s son, Donald (former President of ASCAP and Chairman of the Board of the Songwriter’s Guild who died in 2008), said it best in the interview arranged by her son, Christopher, in 2003 with Ron Della Chiesa of WGBH and WPLM of Plymouth, remembering Dorothy’s impromptu performance at the Bistro Gardens in Beverly Hills back in 1985, “Dorothy has the voice of Sara Brightman, the [piano] touch of Van Cliburn, the stunning and endless beauty of Elizabeth Taylor, the dignity of Julie Andrews and the enduring grace of Grace Kelly. She is a class all her own.” Dorothy’s godfather, former Rear Admiral Louis Perkins of the U.S. Coast Guard (first cousin to her father, Arthur, who was born and raised in Newton), had it right when he said, “She has the voice of an angel.” Those who knew and loved her always remarked of her wonderful soft speaking voice. She was a kind, gentle and unassuming woman. Her voice may be forever silenced, but it will never be forgotten; she will be sorely missed.

Dorothy was born on March 18th, 1929 and raised on Riverview Avenue in Waltham where she lived for over 50 years. She graduated from Waltham High School in 1947. She was a member of the Order of Eastern Star along with her mother. She loved to paint with oils and water colors or etch in pencil and won countless awards. Dorothy studied piano and won countless awards. Dorothy studied piano and voice at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge for more than fifteen years. She attended Iowa State University in 1947. But it was in the summer of 1947, that Dorothy (due to her love of horses) lived and worked on a “Dude Ranch” in Warrensburg, New York, where she was destined to meet a second generation carpenter, the future father of her nine children and the first, but all reports, love of her life, Richard B. Lewis Jr. They married in Warrensburg on July 4th, 1948, yet despite their love for each other, the marriage ended in divorce in 1965 soon after the birth of their ninth child (Ginny) in 1963. She married a second time in 1984 to J. David Harvey, also of upstate New York, but that marriage ended in divorce three years to the day later (on a beautiful day in June when she remembers resuming use her maiden name, “Wellcome”). Yet the relationship she savored most was with J. Alfred “Al” Shambles of Cupertino, California which lasted some fifteen years. When Al was in town, there wasn’t a nightclub they missed. The Glasslight XXI at 21 Broad Street, Boston (which later became Lechner’s Restaurant) was their favorite. That long distance relationship ended amicably when Al retired from ITEK of Lexington and could no longer travel to Boston from California. Her greatest gift, however, was her love for her children. “[W]e may not have been the best parents, but we certainly did our best and loved you and wanted the best for each one of you.”

She was predeceased by her mother, Edna Wellcome, on October 27th, 1972 at age 76; her Dad, Arthur Wellcome, on December 12th, 1977 at age 82; her first husband, Richard B. Lewis, Jr. (a well know carpenter who worked for Sweidler Homes in Weston), on August 6th, 1987 at age 59 to brain cancer; yet the loss of two of her children had the most significant impact on her. Her infant daughter Susan Dorothy Lewis died in her arms on March 9th, 1956 at the Boston Floating Hospital after losing a battle with pancreatic fibrosis after just four months of life. Her son, Jonathan Wellcome Lewis a 2nd Class Petty Officer for the US Coast Guard, died at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis on August 10th, 1982 at age of 23 (as a result of head injuries sustained from an auto accident on august 4th, 1982 at Otis Air Force Base). She and her family were by his side. She revealed her deep spirituality when responding to a question asked by a family member at the funeral for her son, “Don’t you hate God for taking Jon?” She replied quickly and deliberately, but with the gentleness of a mother and “old soul;” “I didn’t hate God when he gave me Jon, I can’t hate him now that he has taken him away.”

She is survived by seven children:

her 9th child devoted daughter and primary caretaker,
Virginia Lee Lewis of Wakefield, and
Virginia’s cherished child:
Victoria (Tori) Lee Lewis;
Virginia’s embraced children:
Anne Bailey
(proud mother of Marirose Watterson);
Joanna Keefe;
Jonathan Keefe, and
Karissa Beth Monnett
(proud mother of Boston B. Monnett);

her 4th child and loving and devoted son
Christopher B. Lewis of Gloucester and
Weston, Massachusetts;

her 1st child and son
Richard B. Lewis, III of Southboro & 2nd former wife, Christine Devoe Tufts of Waltham;
Richard & Christine’s children:
Richard B. Lewis IV;
Allison Lewis Benoit (and her husband Shamos Benoit) and their children:
Connor, Matthew & Jillian
Richard’s 3rd former wife Sue Lewis and their children:
Matthew Richard Martin; Meghan Ryan Lewis; Emily Rose Lewis;
Richard’s embraced child:
Jourdan Chantel Yancy

Her 2nd child and son:
Gary A. Lewis of Litchfield, NH and his former wife, Ellen Lewis of Burlington, MA
Gary & Ellen’s children:
Michael A. Lewis (and his wife Sheila J. Lewis) and their son,
Franklin;
Maryellen Lewis;
Gary & his 2nd wife Melissa and their son:
Jonathan William Lewis;

her 3rd child and daughter:
Constance Jeanne (Lewis) Kennedy and her husband John Kennedy of Bolton, MA
Constance & John’s children:
Susan Dorothy Kennedy
Cathleen (Kennedy) Koponen and her husband Jack Koponen & their children:
Sadie Koponen
Noah Koponen

her 6th child and daughter:
Dorothy Jeanne (Ellis) Lewis of Framingham and her former husband Kevin Ellis;
Dorothy & Kevin’s children:
Elizabeth Ellis and her daughter:
Brianna Star Medina
Michiel Ellis
Charles Ellis
Sara Ellis

her 8th child and daughter:
Laurie Jeanne (Harrington) Lewis of Reading and her former husband Guy Harrington,
Laurie’s children:
Jennifer Lee Harrington and Jennifer’s former husband Robert Brennan and their children:
Matthew M. Brennan
Paige A. Brennan
Jeanne Dorothy Harrington of Meridan, Connecticut and her friend, Gerald Pond and their daughter:
Athena Pond;

Her embraced tenth child of more than 20 years:
Holly Berry of Boston, MA

She was predeceased by two children:
her 5th child and daughter:
Susan Dorothy Lewis who was born on November 28, 1955 and died on March 9, 2006;
her 7th child and son:
Jonathan Wellcome Lewis who was born on January 20, 1959 and died on August 10, 1982

She leaves nine close friends:
Mary A. Haigh of Wellesley;
Jane Gardner Moore of Florida;
Judy Worthington of Florida;
Ruth E. Ormond of Waltham;
John (Jack) M. Otis of Winchester;
Faye Brennion of New Hampshire;
Barbara Duncan of Wakefield;
Rosemary Yasi of Stoneham; &
Carroll M. Lowenstein of Arlington.

Family and friends will honor and remember Dorothy’s life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. and again at 11 a.m. Friday morning in Immanuel Methodist Church, 545 Moody Street, Waltham, when her funeral service will be held. Burial will follow in Grove Hill Cemetery, Waltham.

Memorial donations may be made to the Dorothy Wellcome Foundation, c/o Brian Bixby, Esq., Burns & Levinson LLP, 125 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02214.