October 26, 2003

Section: Local News

Looking for Dorothy could have led here

TIM BOTOS
Repository staff writer

What I will do is remember you,

and I will pray that you be spared all senseless tragedies. I wish you good things, Hermie, only

good things.

Always,

DOROTHY

CANTON Next to Mrs. Robinson, she might be the most famous older woman in American
cinema. A woman who while grieving the World War II death of her husband sleeps with a 15-year-
old boy.

She was a woman of mystery.

A fair-haired enigma.

Her name was Dorothy.

She was a key character in Herman Rauchers 1971 novel Summer of 42 and a movie by the
same name, which starred Jennifer ONeill as Dorothy. The story, Raucher says, was largely
autobiographical. He was the teen who spent a night in Dorothys arms.

Raucher never knew Dorothys last name. He never saw or spoke to her again after that night in
the summer of 1942 on Nantucket Island.

But perhaps youve seen her at the grocery store. Maybe you stood behind her in line at the
bank. Could be that she once was your neighbor, or still is.

You see, Dorothy was living here, in Canton, in the early 1970s. At least, it appears thats the
case. Awash in fame that included an Oscar nomination for best screenplay, Raucher received
letters from a couple of dozen women claiming to be Dorothy. One of them was legitimate.

As sure as one could be, Raucher said recently from his home in Cos Cob, Conn. It just
seemed like her. It seemed ... an intelligent letter.

The handwriting also was familiar. Dorothy told Raucher she had remarried after her husband died
in the war. She told him she was a grandmother. But she didnt include her last name; she provided
no return address.

The only clue: The postmark.

I distinctly remember Canton, OH, Raucher said.

Raucher said he didnt attempt to find Dorothy. He felt that was the honorable thing to do. In the
letter, she was concerned about how that night affected Rauchers psyche. She also implied it was
technically a crime.

She said, The ghosts of that night are better left undisturbed, Raucher recalled.

To this day, he doesnt know what became of her. Hes not sure if shes dead or alive. Whether
she still lives in Canton, or took a secret with her to the grave. And clues of her identity, tucked in
his book, movie and mind arent much help.

The setting of the book is Packett Island, though Raucher said it was actually Nantucket, in
Massachusetts. He was there, likely in May or June of 1942, on summer vacation.

Raucher said he was really 14 years old, not 15. The names of the characters were very much
real, based on Rauchers actual experiences of that summer. Hermie and his friends, Oscy and
Benjie; the woman named Dorothy; and her husband, Pete, who lived in a Cape Cod beach house.

In the past, critics questioned whether Raucher made up the tale. He insists he did not. He said
he actually wrote the book to honor his pal Oscy, who later died in the Korean War on Rauchers
24th birthday.

Raucher struck up a friendship with Dorothy by helping her carry bags home from the store one
day. Inside her house, he saw a photo of her pipe-smoking husband, Pete, a military man. Pete was
away at war.

Raucher assumed the couple were newlyweds. He sometimes saw her writing letters to Pete.
Looking back, he believes Dorothy was between 20 and 30 years old.
 On a second trip to her house to help Dorothy move a handful of heavy boxes, Rauchers
oversexed teenage mind went wild. He lusted over her as she stood on a ladder. He imagined her
without clothes. He even loved the way she drank coffee, described in this passage from the book:

He was watching how she sipped her coffee. Her lips were moist and had to part to let the coffee
in. The way her lips parted and let the coffee in and then pursed up and closed when she had as
much as she could take it was one of the sexiest sights hed ever seen. Oh, that he were a cup
between those lips, and theyd make love in little sips ...

On his next and final trip to her beach house, Raucher could see something was wrong that
evening. Only a couple of lights were on. Dorothy didnt answer the door when he knocked. When
he went in, he saw a half-empty bottle of Scotch whisky and an ashtray full of half-smoked
cigarettes. He also noticed a crinkled telegram. He could only make out the words We regret to
inform you that your husband ... .

That night, Raucher and Dorothy made love. A teenage boy and a woman who was the object of
his desire. Raucher, now 75, knows Dorothy wasnt herself. In her grief over Petes death, she
reached out.

She just wanted to touch somebody alive, he said.

Raucher left her home when they finished, but returned the next day. The place was closed tight,
like someone was sealing it. He could see Petes photo was missing. In his book, Raucher said a
note was taped to the door:

What I will do is remember you,

and I will pray that you be spared

all senseless tragedies. I wish you

good things, Hermie, only good things.

Always,

DOROTHY

Raucher said he thought of Dorothy many times after that. However, her letter in 1971, nearly
30 years after their rendezvous, seemed to say she didnt want to be found. That the ghosts of
that night should remain ghosts. And the only shadow of a clue about who Dorothy was, and
where she lived, was contained in that postmark.

Canton, OH.

You can reach Repository writer Tim Botos at (330) 580-8333 or e-mail:

tim.botos@cantonrep.com

Copyright 2003, The Repository, All Rights Reserved.