Dorothy Nisbet "Dottie" Johnson

Dorothy 'Dottie' Nisbet Johnson
BANGOR -- Dorothy 'Dottie' Nisbet Johnson passed away Saturday, June 5, 2010, surrounded by her loved ones as she was throughout life, after a brief illness. Last year Dottie chronicled her life in a book of memoirs entitled 'Can You Believe It!?' and her life was truly rich and unbelievable beyond measure.. Dottie was born Jan. 16, 1920, on Prince Edward Island, and moved to Portland with her family where she spent her early years. She and her husband, Jimmy, and daughter, Suzanne 'Suzie,' moved to New York City in 1952. Dottie always created family around her, bound by love and her amazing zest for life. Dottie and Suzie lived at 552 Riverside Drive for close to 20 years, where Dottie's absolute determination, hard work and energy helped her to evolve into one of Manhattan's foremost brokers of cooperative apartments, culminating as an executive and broker at Brown, Harris, Stevens, where she worked with her beloved mentor and friend, Hall Wilkie. While she showed apartments of celebrities, such as Igor Stravinsky, Bobby Kennedy, Jackie Onassis and Rock Hudson, and sold them to the likes of Sophia Loren, Placido Domingo and Tricia Nixon-Cox, she never lost sight of her roots, and her stories are filled with wonderful anecdotes and nuggets of wisdom reflecting her acute awareness of how we are all the same, regardless of our station in life.
She lived and worked in the center of her beloved Big Apple until moving to Bangor in 2006 to be near her family. Here, again, she created another whole circle of friends to be touched by her warm smile and magical laughter: her Scrabble, bridge and singing buddies at the wonderful Boyd Place, where she lived; her spiritual community at the Unitarian-Universalist Church, where she had an indescribable 90th birthday party and sat and enjoyed Sunday services with her daughter, Suzie; her water lilies at the Bangor Y who she shared laughs and stories with three mornings a week; and first and foremost, her son-in-law Bob's amazing family, the Kelly's, with
Dorothy 'Dottie' Nisbet Johnson
whom she was able to form an even stronger bond.
Of course, everyone who met Dottie will miss her unsurpassable warmth and zest for life. Through all the hard work and determination that marked her amazing 90-year run, there was always the strong, enduring, absolutely necessary ribbon of joy and laughter - deeper than any other. She painted, she golfed and played bridge; she danced, she sang and she traveled; she fulfilled her lifelong dream of going back to college at Fordham University; she became part of a writer's group in New York City in 2001 that became her life's blood through the rest of her life; she made the most delicious sweet and sour beef and hot fudge ever; and she was the best mother and grandmother in the world.
Dottie would want us all to be left with these guidelines for life: 'Be kind, do the best job you can, wake every morning doing what you love;' and as she wrote in her final story, Vicarious Thrills, 'party in my footsteps.'
In addition to her parents, Herbert and Belle, she was predeceased by her brother, Chet. Hoping to continue her legacy of joy, generosity, heart and hard work are her daughter, Suzie; son-in-law, Bob; grandchildren, Alexandra and David; her Nisbet-Ludwig family in Portland, including her sister, Tillie; her very important Conley and Poltrack families, that added another treasured layer of children and grandchildren; and - among a list of friends too long to list - her dear, dear friends, Miriam Ellis, Phyllis Verelli and Ethel Weishaupt.
There will be a celebration of Dottie's life at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 10, at Unitarian-Universalist Church, 120 Park St., Bangor, where we will share stories and music.
Donations may be made in
Dottie's memory to:
Unitarian-Universalist
Society of Bangor
120 Park St.
Bangor, Maine 04401
and Phillips-Strickland House
21 Boyd St.
Bangor, Maine 04401