BROOKLIN – Patricia N. Gorski, died June 26, 2016, after a courageous battle with lung cancer. She was 76.
Bunny was born in New Jersey on May 6, 1940, the older of two children of Irene and Carroll Morris. The “rabbit test” to determine pregnancy was relatively new at that time, and when it came back positive, little Patricia was nicknamed Bunny even before she was born. She embraced the name and made it her own. The rabbit became her totem and family and friends always enjoyed giving her gifts, cards and paintings featuring her spirit animal.
Bunny grew up in a number of towns in the Morristown area of New Jersey for most of her childhood. She was proud to be descended from two signers of the Declaration of Independence: Robert Morris, financier of the American Revolution; and Charles Carroll, who became the first U.S. senator for Maryland.
Bunny graduated from the Academy of Saint Elizabeth in Convent Station, the oldest all-girls high school in New Jersey. During her school days, she might have met her future husband, Richard “Dick” Gorski, while attending dancing classes for local girls and boys — if he hadn’t ducked out of the classes and gone to the movies instead.
Bunny later met Dick, the love of her life, on a blind date in 1958. They married in 1960, and had two children, Peter and Elizabeth (Beth), and lived in several New Jersey communities, including Bernardsville and New Vernon. Dick worked for architectural firms in New York City, while Bunny not only was a loving wife and mother, but devoted herself to social and political causes such as the campaign of George McGovern and protesting the war in Vietnam. She also taught herself to become a gourmet cook, an accomplished gardener and amateur farmer, raising goats, pigs and chickens.
In 1976, Bunny and Dick and their family made a radical change in their lives by moving to Brooklin, which at the time was extremely isolated and rural. Life there was a struggle at first, with the family combating illness and unemployment and having to cut nearly 16 cords of firewood that first winter to keep their old, uninsulated farmhouse warm.
But Dick and Bunny — eternal optimists despite many challenges — persevered and became integral members of the community. Dick worked for WoodenBoat magazine in Brooklin for many years and was active in local politics. Bunny became a mainstay of the local Democratic Party and held many occupations over the years, including running her own yarn shop in Blue Hill, teaching cooking, doing landscaping and becoming a polarity and massage therapist.
It was that training combined with her life-long acquired knowledge of the body’s chemical balancing and workings that helped she and Dick in 1999 in their fight against brain cancer with which he had been diagnosed. That battle came to an end nearly two years later, far longer than his doctors had given him.
Bunny later became a founder of the Brooklin Pottery Co-op and a successful potter. Her work was sold in a number of galleries around the state. One of her early creations, delicate and lacey “Bunny Bowls” were in demand from day one and she was continually asked to produce more.
But most of all, Bunny was known as a friend. Virtually everyone in Brooklin — and many in nearby Blue Hill — knew Bunny Gorski. A true extrovert, she loved a party, and talking to and being with other people — family and friends — was her greatest joy. Pete and Beth came to call her the “Energizer Bunny” because no matter how late the hour, she was always up for one more round of conversation. Until the end, Bunny remained young and vigorous for her age and had plans to live until she was 500.
During Bunny’s last week at the Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough, she rallied herself to hold one final party with a group of close friends and family. On a brilliant sunny June afternoon, everyone sat around her bed as she and they enjoyed a favorite dessert of chocolate bouchons and mango gelato. Everyone laughed and talked, Bunny most of all. Her room was filled with flowers and cards and, as one friend wrote, although they couldn’t all be there in person in her room, an entire town was with her in spirit.
Bunny was predeceased by her husband, her father and mother, and her brother, Norman Morris. She is survived by her daughter Beth, of Portland; her son, Pete, and daughter-in-law, Tess Nacelewicz, both of South Portland; sister-in-law Marcia Orr, of Mountain City, Tenn.; six beloved nieces and nephews; and numerous great-nieces and great-nephews.
A celebration of Bunny’s life will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, July 9, at The Bay School’s Emlen Hall in Blue Hill. A reception will follow at 1 p.m., at The Farmhouse Inn in Blue Hill. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: The Brooklin Youth Corps.
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