Janice (Potter) Dorchester of West Yarmouth died on Oct. 6. She was 95.

Janice was born Sept. 20, 1924, in Windsor, Conn., to Henry James and Lois (Wood) Potter. She was the youngest of three children and their only daughter. Jan graduated salutatorian from John Fitch High School in 1942 and graduated from Katherine Gibbs in Providence, R.I., in 1944 and went to work for the Fuller Brush Company.

She married her childhood sweetheart, Douglas Freese Dorchester on Dec. 15, 1945 in her parents’ home in Windsor. They moved from Windsor to Woodmont, Conn., so Doug could complete his divinity degree at Yale University. They were married for 70 years and had five children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Jan was a renaissance woman: an award-winning watercolorist, a musician, both voice and piano, a genealogist who wrote seven books, and a designer who drew the plans for their two retirement homes.

She and Doug loved musicals and travel. They saw Oklahoma in New York on their honeymoon and went regularly into the city for shows when they lived in New Jersey. Their travels took them to the British Isles, Portugal, Bermuda, Nassau and all over the United States.

Jan loved to swim. Both retirement homes were near the water, the first in Connecticut near Mystic. In the 1960s they sold that home and built in Oak Bluffs on the Lagoon. She encouraged all her children and grandchildren to learn to swim and spent many happy hours on the beach with all ages of kids. Her goal each year was to swim every day from Memorial Day to Sept. 20, her birthday. Many years she did just that.

She is survived by four children: Dee Aukamp of Falmouth, Ellen Langwig of Schoharie, N.Y., Marcy Dorchester of Albuquerque, N.M., and Don Dorchester of West Yarmouth: six grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; nieces, nephews and many friends and fellow artists. She was predeceased by her husband Doug, and their son Jim.

A celebration of life will be held at the Bourne United Methodist Church in Bourne at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3.

Donaations can be made to Broad Reach Hospice and Palliative Care, 390 Orleans Road, Chatham, MA 02633, UNICEFUSA.org, or to the charity of one’s choice.