Anne Bradbury Dobra died peacefully on August 12 at her home in Pennsylvania, surrounded by family, following a long and courageous struggle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease. She would have turned 76 in September, and was the beloved wife of Klee Chambers Dobra.
Anne was born in Massachusetts in 1941, grew up in Cape Porpoise, Me., graduated from Kennebunk High School in 1959 and married Klee C. Dobra of Providence, R.I., in 1962. Over her lifetime, Anne had the good fortune to live in a variety of places throughout the country, but she and her family always returned to the Vineyard each summer. She loved the Island, its history and heritage. During the mid-1970s, she and her family spent better than a dozen years as full-time residents of Edgartown.
Among other things, she was instrumental in starting the Taste of the Vineyard, the annual fundraiser for the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust. Her husband recalled that they had returned from New Orleans where they had enjoyed a stroll through the New Orleans Zoo while sampling the specialties of most of the restaurants of that wonderful city. A few weeks later, the Trust was trying to come up with an event, and Anne suggested the idea of the Taste. Although she would not chair the project, she was a kingpin, and Edgartown enjoys the Taste to this day, Mr. Dobra said.
Anne was a communicant of Saint Andrew’s Church and could always be found behind the jewelry counter at the annual church fair. She was a longtime member of the Edgartown Yacht Club where she served for many years as chairman of the senior entertainment committee. She was a life member of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, as well as the Maine Mayflower Society.
She was a fun-loving woman to whom family came first. She loved entertaining and hosted Christmas dinners annually for friends and family that were something to write home about. Among her favorite pastimes was an afternoon at the beach with family and friends. She loved everyone and everyone loved her. She was a joy to be around, generous and courageous, with a smile that could melt anyone’s problems and light the night sky. She will be remembered as a woman of dignity, beauty, and grace — because that’s what best defines her.
In addition to her husband of 56 years, Anne is survived by her three daughters: Sheree Freda and her husband Andrew of Deerfield, Melinda Coath and her husband Philip of Collegeville, Pa., Holly Larson of Steamboat Springs, Colo.; and by six grandchildren: William and James Freda of Deerfield, and Hannah, Emma, Lily, and Abby Coath of Collegeville, Pa. She is also survived by her brother, Scott A. Bradbury of North Hampton, and by her mother, Louise Taylor Bradbury of Kennebunk, Me. She was predeceased by her father, Wilber A. Bradbury, in 1987.
A memorial service is being planned for a future date at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown. Interment in Edgartown will be private.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the National Parkinson’s Foundation, 200 SE 1st Street Suite 800, Miami, Florida 33131
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