Cotuit- Lee Gainey Edwards Dunbar, 77, died peacefully while surrounded by family on June 30th after a courageous battle against cancer.

Lee was the first of nine children of William Gainey and Anne Rice Gainey of Orleans. She was the oldest of what came to be known as the “Crew 9,” the name given the group of siblings and what adorned the license plate of the family vehicle for decades.

Known for her quick wit and gift for making people laugh, Lee was best described in her own words as “a hoot!” She devoted her life to helping others, but was also fascinated with the little things in life. Her granddaughter, Kaeleigh Edwards, recalled, “She enjoyed spending mornings walking out on her back porch. It was there that she fed the birds and watched the squirrels jumping around, and where she would scold the chipmunks for hoarding birdseed. Some of my favorite memories with her are from those times.”

Lee’s lifelong commitment to caring for others began at an early age while helping her mother with the growing family. “I remember her, five years old, holding one of her brothers or sisters,” younger brother William Gainey said. “If my mother wasn’t available, Lee was right there. When she got her driver’s license, she would drive us wherever we wanted to go.”

Lee grew up in the Skaket neighborhood in the 1950s and 1960s, a golden time shared with Gaineys, Dunhams, Norgeots, Smiths, Graingers, Viprinos, and Crosbys. Summers were spent at the beach, of course, or visiting family in Western Massachusetts. Winters were the time to skate on the nearby cranberry bog or lake, and when it was too cold, they would gather after school in the Gay Nineties room of the Norgeots’ Captain Linnell House with its potbelly stove and well-stocked jukebox. Outside the home, her first jobs were a part of Orleans history- a chambermaid at the Skaket Beach Motel and as a waitress at Helen’s Country Kitchen, the Pancake Maid, and the Homeport.

Lee graduated from Nauset Regional High School, then located in Orleans at what is now the middle school, in 1967. She was active in sports, a member of the basketball team, playing first base on the school’s softball team and also in the Mariners, the girls’ division of the Sea Scouts. After graduation, she enlisted in VISTA, serving in Willimantic, CT. The anti-poverty program, started by President Lyndon Johnson, was known as the domestic Peace Corps and, since 1993, is part of the AmeriCorps network.

After a backpacking trip to England and Ireland, Lee was looking for what to do next. The answer was next door- her summer neighbors, the Graingers, invited her to their home in Seattle, Washington where Lee lived for about a year with them. “It was like having a big sister,” said Jeanne Grainger Hasenmiller, one of the three awed Grainger children. A neighbor’s teenage daughter was developmentally disabled and attended a workshop where Lee started working, the beginning of her long career in human services.

Lee helped many others through a 34-year career in Washington State in many roles, including as the Administrator of Vocational Training and Counseling Programs for developmentally disabled adults. She married and welcomed two children, Jessica and Ron. Her Buckley, WA home became a Gainey outpost and was the destination for many cross-country trips over the decades.

In 2004, Lee returned to Cape Cod to help care for her mother. She worked at Latham Centers, serving children and adults with complex special needs until her retirement in 2023. “Her honesty, integrity, and compassion are unmatched, in my experience,” William said. “There are many people with special needs individuals in their families who certainly remember Lee because she really helped them.”

In 2007 Lee and David Dunbar, her second husband, easily found each other on plentyoffish.com, an online dating site. “She liked the ocean, and she viewed family as the most important thing,” his daughter Adrienne Fontaine said. “They had that in common.” They married in 2009 and bought their Cotuit home in 2012. They celebrated weekly date nights at the Kettle-Ho in Cotuit, anniversaries were spent at the Woodstock Inn in New Hampshire, and they would travel annually to Florida to see family in Cape Coral.

While living in Orleans, Lee served on the town’s Human Services Committee. Later she served on the Cotuit Library Association Board, where she also volunteered.

Lee is survived by her husband, David Dunbar, children Jessica Edwards and partner Justin White of Mashpee, Ron Edwards of Brewster, Adrienne Fontaine and husband Patrick of Cotuit, and David Dunbar Jr. and wife Stephanie of Cape Coral, FL. Other survivors are grandchildren Kaeleigh Edwards of Mashpee, and Livia, Seth, and Alex Fontaine of Cotuit. Lee is also survived by her eight siblings, Anne Ekstrom, William Gainey, Darcy Truehart, James Gainey, Mary Gainey, Tom Gainey, Tim Gainey, and Patricia Ferzoco, as well as numerous nieces and nephews, cousins, and friends.

There will be a celebration of Lee’s life in August.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Cotuit Library Association at PO Box 648, Cotuit MA 02635 or online atcotuitlibrary.org.