Dolores “Dee” Gleason

Dolores (Dee) Gleason 

 1928-2026

Mother of three, friend of many

Dolores Elizabeth Gleason died peacefully at McAuley Hall Health Care Center in Watchung, New Jersey, on the morning of June 23, 2026. She was 98 years old.

McAuley Hall provided Dee with high-quality, devoted care in her final years. She received regular visits from her son Scott and his wife Nancy, while her son Douglas traveled from Los Angeles, and her son Steven and his wife Lillian from Connecticut, as time allowed. Her daughters-in-law Nancy and Lillian played a special role in providing loving emotional and physical support. Her granddaughters Georgia and Geneva brought youthful fun and affection that never failed to cheer Dee up, no matter how somber her mood. Though Dee’s physical and mental capacities abandoned her in McAuley Hall, she never lost her warmth and sense of humor. To the very end, she offered visitors glimpses of the bright, vivacious, charming woman she had been through all stages of her life.

Dolores’s long life was rooted in a rich history of emigration from Lebanon to the United States. Her parents, Annice Haboush Aboumrad (b. 1891) and Nicola Aboumrad (b. 1885), came to the United States at an early age. They were married in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1908. Between 1909 and 1928, Annice gave birth to eight children, while Nicola established a mercantile business.

Around 1914, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York.Dolores, their youngest child, was born on March 3, 1928.Dolores grew up somewhat apart from her older siblings, several of whom were already teenagers when she was born. Annice was less strict with her than she had been with her older daughters, who were forbidden from wearing “provocative” clothes and makeup.

In the 1929 stock market crash, the family lost most of the money Nicola had amassed in his business. With his two brothers, Nicola founded a new enterprise in Mexico, which Nicola directed from New York.

Nicola died of heart disease in 1938 after several years of illness. It must have come as a shock for Dolores, who was only ten years old and had enjoyed much fond attention from her father. Annice and her two sons struggled to lay claim to their fair share of the business from Nicola’s brothers. According to Annice, one of Nicola’s brothers was involved in a plane crash while absconding with valuable rugs that should have gone to Annice. When Annice was asked if she had given the evil eye to the unfortunate man, she said no, but God took care of those who wronged others.

In 1945, Annice moved to Mexico with her daughters Eva and Dolores. After a few years they returned to Worcester and subsequently settled in Glendale, California. It was there, in the land of swaying palms, sparkling beaches, and glittering movie stars, that Dolores acquired the glamorous persona she maintained for the rest of her life. It came naturally, as she was blessed not only with good looks but a lively, fun-lovingdisposition, a sharp wit, and a native talent for social connection.It was there that Dolores became Dee, though she remained forever Dolores to her mother and siblings.

In 1950 Dee met Sherman Mardis Gleason, a salesman from Newton, Massachusetts, who had served in the Marine Corps and graduated from Dartmouth College. They crossed paths in the office of the Goodall fabric company, where Dee worked as a secretary. Sherman, known as Sherm, was three years her senior. They were married in Los Angeles on March 10, 1951. Legend has it that Annice was much relieved to see Dolores, who’d been courted by various gentlemen in Mexico City, get hitched with an all-American boy. In that sense it was a suitable match, as Dolores had succeeded by then in trading her ethnicroots for the image of the all-American girl.

Dee and Sherm settled in Worcester, where Sherm worked in the Chevrolet dealership of Dee’s brother-in-law. During this time Dee gave birth to three boys: Scott (1952), Steven (1954), and Douglas (1956). Dee made the difficult transition from a carefree single life in California to marriage and motherhood in Worcester with poise and determination. She devoted herself to keeping an immaculate, welcoming home and caring for her three sons while Sherm developed his business career. It was largely a single-handed effort, with occasional help from her mother and her sisters Effie and May, who also lived in Worcester.

The Gleason family spent summers at a cottage colony in Cape Cod that was also frequented by the family of Effie’s daughter, Virginia Bardwil. While their husbands visited the Cape mostly on weekends, Dee and Virginia stayed for the whole summer with their children. Though technically a niece, Virginia was only three years younger than Dee. The two developed a close, sisterly relationship that endured until Virginia’s death in 2005.

Around 1961, Sherm took a management position with theHome Life Insurance Company in New York City. The family moved to Connecticut, living in Stamford until 1968, and then in Weston. Dee and Sherm divorced in 1972. Sherm stayed on the East Coast and remarried soon after the divorce. Dee moved to Santa Monica, California, where she remained for the next four decades, with a few years’ interlude in the 1990s in the Florida home of Virginia Bardwil, also divorced.

In Santa Monica, Dee had a second blossoming as an attractive, free-spirited divorcée. She rented a two-bedroom apartment near the ocean and reconnected with friends from her Glendale days. With her lively personality, she found it easy to make new friends as well. She enjoyed fine dining, shopping in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, and the company of well-heeled gentlemen. Though she had several liaisons, she never remarried. Her most serious relationship was with achef/restaurateur named Rolf. She held several jobs over the years as a restaurant hostess, rental agent, and apartment building manager.

In the early years, Dee’s sons often spent summers with herin Santa Monica. Douglas moved in with her for his last year before college, graduating from Santa Monica High School. After shuttling between the East and West coasts for a number of years, Douglas put down permanent roots in Los Angeles in 1985. He provided much emotional support and companionship for Dee, which she reciprocated by whipping up fabulous dishesfor his barbecues and dinner parties.

Scott married Nancy Gill in 1988, followed by Steven’s marriage to Lillian Anderson in 1995. Breaking the mold of the stereotypical mother-in-law, Dee treated her sons’ wives with the utmost warmth and respect, winning strong affection in return. Dee became a grandmother with the birth of Scott and Nancy’s daughters Georgia in 1993 and Geneva in 1996. She embraced her role, showering her granddaughters with attention while showing that grandmas need not be dowdy or retiring.

Dee’s social flair and her cooking talents converged to spectacular effect when she played hostess to gatherings in her home. The same warmth, charm, and wit she lavished on her guests went into her cooking as well, producing dishes that struck the happy eater as refined, festive, and cozy all at the same time. In Connecticut she hosted countless dinner parties for friends and neighbors, as well as Sunday brunches for familymembers who came up from New York City for a lavish buffet that might include chicken tetrazzini and zabaglione. Dee’s sons and their families spent many festive Christmases with her in Santa Monica, enjoying her special brand of warmth along withsumptuous holiday dishes like tenderloin of beef with Madeira sauce.

Around 2010 it became clear that Dee could no longer live independently in Santa Monica. She reluctantly agreed to move to New Jersey, where she was welcomed in the home of her son Scott and his family. It was a difficult adjustment, as she had to abandon the independent life she had led for so long, in a place she adored.

After a few years in her son’s home, Dee moved to an independent living facility, then to assisted living, and finally to a nursing home. Following the difficult COVID years, she was admitted to McAuley Hall thanks to the efforts of Nancy Gleason. The move to McAuley was a godsend, as the family witnessed time and again the loving and professional care the staff provided to Dee. We are deeply grateful for the many years we shared with Dee and will always recall her spirit and joie de vivre, perhaps best captured by the question she posed to us so often over the phone: “So, what are you doing for fun these days?”