Claire Lorraine Gordon

Claire Lorraine Gordon, age 93, of Dedham, devoted wife, mother, and grandmother died Friday, December 2, at her home. Daughter of Dorothy (Slutsky) and Osborne Seay, Lorraine was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and was raised in Worcester. A Horace Mann Scholar at Classical High School, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Clark University in 1951. At Clark she was named a member of Pleiades, the women’s senior honorary society, and was co-editor of the Clark Scarlet, the university newspaper.

Lorraine was predeceased by the love of her life, her husband of 70 years, novelist Noah Gordon. Lorraine’s greatest pleasure was family. She is survived by her beloved children, Lise Gordon of Watertown and her former husband, Roger Weiss of Belmont, Jamie Beth Gordon of Chestnut Hill, and Michael Seay Gordon and Maria Palma Castillón of Barcelona, Spain, and four cherished grandchildren, Caleb Weiss, Emma Weiss, Sara Gordon Palma and Enric Gordon Palma. She also leaves her treasured sister, Patricia Roy, of Worcester and dear brother and sister-in-law, Irwin and Adele Seay of Longmeadow; 12 nieces and nephews, as well as many grand-nieces and grand-nephews. She was predeceased by her much-loved sister and brother-in-law, Phyllis and Everett Joseph, and by a close group of lifelong friends.

From 1973 to 1981, Lorraine was editor and, with Noah, co-publisher of two groundbreaking medical journals, Psychiatric Opinion and The Journal of Human Stress.

During her lifetime, Lorraine made her mark wherever she lived. She was the consummate volunteer and was not afraid to state her opinion, even when it was not a popular one, to make things better for her community. As a young mother in Worcester, she was president of the Worcester Chapter of Women’s American ORT. She and her husband raised their children in Framingham, where she was a trustee of Temple Beth Shalom and president of its PTA. She also chaired the founding committee of the Framingham-Natick Regional Hebrew High School. In 1979, they moved to the rural town of Ashfield in the foothills of the Berkshires. There she worked as a reporter then as editor of the Ashfield News and was elected town clerk. She was also a member of Temple Israel in Greenfield, where she served on its board of trustees as secretary and as treasurer.

More recently, Lorraine and Noah served for five years as founding co-directors of a unique 4,000-volume library at NewBridge on the Charles, the Dedham retirement community where they lived since 2009.

Besides being a grammarian, Lorraine was a whiz at math and enjoyed solving word puzzles. She processed wood strips from ash trees to weave exquisite baskets. And she baked the world’s best brownies.

A graveside ceremony will be private.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Lorraine’s memory may be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, or the charity of your choice.