Art teacher and cartoonist Doris Nitti, formerly of Provincetown, died peacefully on Feb. 13, 2025 at Greenridge Place, an assisted living community in Rocky Hill, Conn. She was 92.
Doris was born on Dec. 14, 1932 in East Haven, Conn. Her Provincetown neighbor Padric Meagher said she was the adopted daughter of Joseph and Julia (Pecoraro) Nitti, working-class first-generation Italian Americans who “struggled to make ends meet,” said Doris’s niece Jeanne Kirby. “They even made their own dandelion wine.”
Growing up in East Haven enabled Doris to visit New York City art museums. “Seeing the masters was mind-blowing for her,” said Jeanne.
Doris graduated from East Haven High School in 1950. Her yearbook noted that “Drawing is her specialty,” that she “likes a sense of humor and honesty,” and that her “art future” could be found on “the comic page.” One of her dreams, Jeanne said, “was to be a New Yorker cartoonist.”
When Doris graduated from New Haven State Teacher’s College (now Southern Connecticut State University) in 1954, her class yearbook referred to her as “just another art teacher.” But she became much more than that.
She began her teaching career in Rocky Hill, Conn., where she met her life partner, Jeanne Galvin, who was a gym teacher at the same school. “She poured herself into teaching,” Kirby said. “And she never lost her own kid mentality. She loved children’s minds, the often weirdly imaginative ways their brains worked.”
After doing graduate work at the University of Hartford, Doris taught art in the city’s middle schools. She was excited by the diversity of the student population, many of them first-generation Americans. As the Spanish-speaking population grew, Doris studied the language so she could better communicate with her students. “She saw their potential,” Padric said. “She was devoted.”
In the early 1950s, Jeanne Galvin introduced Doris to Provincetown, where they spent most of their summers and became well known figures. Doris’s niece remembers walking in Provincetown with them when she was young, marveling at “how everyone knew them.”
Doris found the art world of Provincetown supportive of her painting. One of her pieces is in the permanent collection at PAAM.
Doris retired from teaching in 1991, Jeanne bought a condo on Bradford Street, and Doris rented a small cottage on Brewster Street to serve as a studio, where she would paint and draw cartoons. The couple split their time among Provincetown, Connecticut, and St. Petersburg, Fla. until Jeanne’s death in 2014.
As Doris grew older, her cartooning took off. “She was doing calendars about being old,” Padric said, “which she gave to her neighbors and friends.” Her 2018 calendar was called “Life in the Slow Lane” and 2019’s was “Life in the Breakdown Lane.” Even after she moved into assisted living, she continued to draw cartoons for her neighbors.
“Some of her best friends were her former students,” Padric said, “most now in their 70s.” Niece Jeanne Kirby noted that Doris was “not a paint-by-numbers teacher; she was both humble and hysterically funny, with a fine sensitivity to the absurdity of life.”
That sensitivity served her well. In her late 80s, she fell and could not get up, Padric said. She lay on the floor for three days before she was discovered. “She bounced right back,” he said, “and never lost her sense of humor.”
Doris is survived by her chosen family: Jerry Kirby of South Chatham; her nieces and nephew: Jackie Keady and husband George of Longmeadow; Jeanne Kirby and husband Dave Rapaport of Burlington, Vt.; and Don Kirby and wife Liz Dunn of Portland, Maine; and eight grandnieces and grandnephews. She also leaves her friends Connie Kapral of South Windsor, Conn. and Fran Judycki of Rocky Hill, Conn.
Doris was predeceased by Claire Kirby of South Chatham and her life partner, Jeanne Galvin of Wethersfield, Conn.
Doris was grateful for the kindness and companionship extended to her by the CNAs and staff at Greenridge Place.
A celebration of Doris’s life will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 28, 2025 at Saint James Church, 767 Elm St., Rocky Hill, Conn. All are welcome. A Provincetown memorial is being planned for June.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Doris’s memory can be made to Connecticut Foodshare, Box 150430, Hartford, CT 06115.
