Constance Hatson Donovan Stavropoulos Dodge of Bedford died at her home on Wednesday, June 21, at 92. Born in Boston in 1924, she was the daughter of Nicholas Hatson (Hagemike), a Greek immigrant, and Adelaide Gertrude Beebe, a Vermont Yankee. After her mother was crippled giving birth, she and her sister Marion were raised by an aunt and uncle as their own.
Connie was always a striver. Growing up in Somerville in 1936, she saw an announcement of a Hi-Li competition with a bicycle as the grand prize. She hit the ball over 5000 times and the bike was hers. But when she asked for a girl’s bike, the emcee told her that “a girl was not supposed to win.” That never stopped her.
Connie graduated from high school in 1942, in Woburn, where she was engaged to George Perros before he died in World War II. She graduated from Burdett College for Business in 1944. While there, she wrote interviews for the school paper with some of the big name talent that appeared in Boston. The highlight came when, alone in his dressing room, bandleader Artie Shaw played “Stardust” for her. She spent the rest of the 1940s as an office manager and enjoyed the postwar jazz and art scene in Boston after work. In 1947, she published a book of poetry, encouraged by the Pultizer Prize-winning poet Robert Hillyer, entitled Who Know Not Leaf.
She met Paul Donovan in 1951, and they were married the following September. In 1955, after the birth of daughters Margaret and Gail, the family moved to Bedford. Connie sold Avon products, while Paul commuted to Boston. The couple decided to take the broker training course in Boston. She went first, and early in her new career, the men in the male-dominated profession blocked her access to the multiple listing service of that time -until it became clear that her former Avon ladies were listing their homes exclusively with her.
She ran the Donovan Company for close to 50 years and was very active in promoting the establishment of a Historic District Committee, to preserve the character of the town’s center. She was one of its early chairmen.
In 1976, Paul died. She focused on work and family and wrote another book of poetry – The Bridging Over. The following year, Steve Stavropoulos, an artist whose studio she had frequented before she married Paul, came back into her life and they married in 1977. Steve was an artist and an accomplished iconographer. They shared twelve happy years until he died suddenly in 1989.
In 2001, she married John Dodge, a lifelong resident of Bedford, Also an artist, he had a fabulous collection of ephemera and was recognized as one of the world’s foremost hand-colorists. They shared a passion for the town’s history and John served for many years as Bedford’s Town Historian.
John died suddenly last August and she had been in decline since then. When she died last week, she was surrounded by her daughters and their spouses, while the music she loved was playing as she peacefully slipped away.
All of her three husbands truly cherished her, her children and grandchildren loved and admired her, and she had a special talent for making and nurturing lifelong friends.
She was the devoted mother of Margaret Donovan (Richard Hughes) of New York and Gail Donovan Hartwell (Raymond B.) of Bedford. She was the cherished grandmother of Melissa Hartwell Bennett (David) of Portland, Maine and Scott Donovan Hartwell (Erin) of Bedford and she was the adoring great-grandmother of Patrick and Madeline Hartwell and Logan, Gavin, and Alivia Bennett. She also leaves her loving stepsons Nicholas and Spiros Stavropoulos, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was predeceased by her sister, Marion Doucakis in 2003. She will be missed by friends around the world.
Visiting hours at the Bedford Funeral Home, 167 Great Rd., Bedford, on Sun., June 25, from 2:00-6:00 PM. Funeral service at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 17 Merriam St., Lexington, on Mon., June 26, at 9:30 AM. Burial in Shawsheen Cemetery, followed by a noon memorial service and reception at the First Parish in Bedford, 75 Great Rd., Bedford. Friends and family are welcome to attend all services.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to St. Francis House Homeless Shelter, at www.stfrancishouse.org or by mail to St. Francis House, P.O. Box 120499, Boston, MA 02112-0499.
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