FALMOUTH — Dorothy J. Preston, 90, died on April 7, 2016 at Ocean View Legacy Memory Care. Dorothy Damon Johnson was born in Natick, MA to Murdoch Porter and Virginia Long Johnson on February 11, 1926. Dottie had two older brothers, Murdoch Mattheson and Murdoch Porter Johnson. Dottie grew up in a lovely home (now Boston Scientific) on Lake Cochituate rowing and swimming with her brothers, playing with dogs, and visiting grandparents and extended family in Boston and Framingham. Summers were spent boating off Marblehead. Upon graduation from Walnut Hill School in 1944, Dottie’s father encouraged her to forego college and work to support the war effort as her brothers had joined the Navy. She worked as a nurse’s aide at Cushing Hospital, where she met her future husband, a recuperating war hero, Albert Gallatin Preston.

The couple married in 1946; moved to Schenectady, NY where they had three daughters and then moved to Greenwich, CT in 1954 where they completed the family with a fourth daughter. Albert worked in NYC as an executive with GE. Dottie was active in the Junior League and over the years volunteered in many nonprofits including the Greenwich Hospital Auxiliary, Easter Seal Rehab Center, Greenwich Academy Parents Group, and after surviving breast cancer – Reach for Recovery. Annie Peterson, who took care of Dottie when she was a child, helped Dottie raise her four children and allowed her to be active outside the home.

In the early 1960s the Prestons bought a small sailboat and a book on sailboat racing, joined Indian Harbor Yacht Club, and taught themselves to sail and race. Dottie raced dinghies with a ladies group in summer and with the men in the winter, raced L-16’s with her husband on summer weekends, helped with race committee, and worked on several committees at the Yacht Club. Dottie was a member of the Indian Harbor Yacht Club crew that won the Adams Cup,

United States

Women’s Sailing

Championship, in

1967.

Dottie was an avid reader and completed New York Times Crossword Puzzles daily in record times. Taking care of, entertaining, and visiting family was a priority for Dottie and Al. She also supported Al in his travels to First Division Army reunions and monuments across Europe. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church for the 58 years she and Albert lived in Greenwich. Dottie and her husband moved to Foreside Harbor in Falmouth, ME in 2011 to be closer to family. Dottie moved to Ocean View Legacy Memory Care in 2015. The family is grateful for the care Dottie received at both facilities.

She is survived by 4 children: Virginia Wakelin and husband, David of South Portland, ME; Alyssa O’Rourke and husband, Michael of Portland, OR; Dorothy Jones and husband, Michael of Brunswick, ME; and Anne Preston of Bala Cynwyd, PA; 11 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren.

She is predeceased by Albert, her husband of 66 years, and her son-in-law, Casey Ichniowski.

A memorial service will be held at a later date in Greenwich, CT. Arrangements are under the guidance of Hobbs Funeral Home, 230 Cottage Road, South Portland, ME. On-line condolences may be shared at: www.hobbsfuneralhome.com.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Breast Cancer Research Foundation, 60 East 56th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10022.