Nancy Tourtellot Bessette

Nancy Tourtellot Bessette 90, of Wakefield passed away at South County Hospital on March 2. With her independent spirit and dog Lulu by her side she fought the good fight at home for many months. She was born in Providence on April 8, 1930 to Stephen Whaley Tourtellot and Ruth (Wilson) Tourtellot. After moving from Woodbury St. in Providence, Nancy lived most of her early childhood in the village of Jerusalem in Narragansett. For a very short time she attended Fifth Avenue Elementary School in Narragansett. Skip Streeter, owner of Skip’s Dock, would row her across the channel to catch the school bus in Galilee. Seeing it to be safer and more practical Narragansett paid her tuition to attend Wakefield School (then grades 1-8) before she eventually moved to Wakefield. She graduated from South Kingstown High School, now Hazard School, in the class of 1947. She was a real estate broker with her parents and later started the Nancy Tourtellot Agency. She said of one of her biggest challenges besides raising a family was being a woman trying to start a new business on her own. She found that securing a loan in order to start a business was difficult for no other reason than being a women. She persisted in getting a loan and started her own gift and flower shop known as Pleasantries in old downtown Wakefield. She later purchased Little Caledonia Gift Shop at the other end of Main St. where Pleasantries stands today. She was a past president of the South County Junior Women’s Club later to become part of GFWC. At home and while wintering in Florida she volunteered at several hospitals. She loved dogs and the dog park, the senior center, the beach, sailing, Fourth of July on her deck, the Patriots, the Celtics, and most of all watching her family and her friends kids grow. Her house was always open to all of them. Nancy is survived by her children, Bob Cavanagh (Lynda), Stephanie Osborn (David), Meredith Masson (Mark) and Heather Cavanagh, grandchildren Heidi, Sherry, Holly, Mark, Bob and Richie, great-grandchildren Darian, Kyra, Jasmine, Sierra, Noah, Zachary, Jaelyn, Cameron, Lucas, Caroline, Makenzie and Maxwell. Nancy was very grateful for the “wonderful” caregivers she had from South County Home Health Services as well as Nancy and Kendra from Home Care Assistance. In her memory, please consider becoming a blood donor at the Rhode Island Blood Center. If you would like to celebrate her love for dogs and her happy place, donations to Friends of South Kingstown Parks and Recreation (please note dog park) 325 Columbia St, Wakefield, RI 02879 would be appreciated. A celebration of life will be held at a later date.