Shirley D. Drasher

March 1, 1930- July 15, 2022

Shirley Dadisman grew up in Middletown, a town aptly named as it sits halfway between Dayton and Columbus OH, where her father was President of Armco Steel (amongst other things, first to manufacture sheets of stainless steel c. 1932 and develop the highway guardrail c.1933).

Shirley and her brother Doug were raised in a big house with tended grounds. For high school she went East to Saint Margaret's School in CT. It was not a great fit, but Shirley excelled in art and went on to the Rhode Island School of Design. Following a brief stint in a graduate program at Yale, Shirley moved to Hell’s Kitchen in NYC with some gal pals to pursue a career as a freelance illustrator, pounding the pavement with her ever-expanding portfolio, doing spot illustrations for Gourmet Magazine, album covers for a series of Haydn recordings, etc…

In 1958 Marian Miller decided to match make and set up two friends up on a blind date. They met for the first time at Minetta’s Tavern on MacDougal Street in the Village.

“How do you do? I’m Clark.”

“Hello Clark, I’m Shirley.”

Within less than a year Shirley had become Mrs. Clark Drasher!

Clark Leon Drasher (1928-2014) was born in Hazleton, PA on July 29. His father worked for the oldest and largest investment house in Northeastern PA, J.H. Brooks & Co. Those formative years may well have dictated the course of Clark’s life; as a youngster he was sometimes responsible for climbing the ladder to reach the slate where numbers were constantly erased and updated while the market was in session. Clark went to MIT as an ROTC student, later serving in Okinawa in a non-combat role. From aboard a vessel, wearing dark glasses, he witnessed the testing of nuclear weapons. After fulfilling his military commitment, Clark went on to Harvard Business School, where he was recruited by one of the earliest hedge fund brokerage firms, Loeb, Rhoades & Co., before graduation! Clark moved to a bachelor pad in Brooklyn Heights with a view of the river and Manhattan, and began his decades of commuting to Wall Street.

Newlyweds Clark and Shirley moved to a bigger flat in Brooklyn Heights but with a growing family (little Kathy came along in 1960) they began planning their dream house in Laurel Hollow, NY, hiring a young architect, Peter Eisenmen (who became one of the New York Five). In addition to living quarters, Shirley had a well-equipped studio tucked into the woods. A pool and subtle landscaping formed the rest of the property and were featured in House and Garden:

Peter came along in 1963. Shirley made sculpture, did printmaking and raised her two kids, with lots of craft projects and visits into the city for musicals and museums. Every spring the Drasher clan took a two week vacation to Caneel Bay, US Virgin Islands, where Clark, especially, sought decompression from his high stress job.

Clark commuted into NYC every day on the LIRR from Syosset and Shirley made art and did lots of volunteer projects at places like the West Side School and the Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor. Shirley became a world class cook, studying multiple culinary traditions. She also baked incredible pies! Together, Clark and Shirley had a passion for collecting works on paper. Their walls were graced with woodcuts by Gauguin and Feininger, lino-cuts by Picasso and lithographs by Bonnard, Vuillard and Chagall. Burnt out by the hedge fund scene, Clark joined the Boston-based firm Fidelity and convinced them to set him up as a portfolio analyst with his own office in NYC at 100 Wall St., complete with long term secretary Irene Pettit.

In the early 1980s the Drashers found a magical property on the border of Wellfleet and Truro, MA, positioned perfectly on a kettle pond. Clark retired in 1991, eventually giving up the pied a terre he had purchased on LaGuardia Place. Shirley used the grounds and the house as her canvas, creating beauty all around, resulting in a haven of landscaped gardens, frog ponds, a main house, guest house, studio garage and greenhouse. She was an active member of the Wellfleet Gardeners. These were idyllic years.

Clark had a daily routine:

Late breakfast. Scrambled eggs.

Shower. Shave.

Load dogs in the car.

Go to Post Office (a social scene).

Visit the dump.

Take dogs to Ryder Beach (many of their dogs came from the Animal Rescue League, a favourite charity).

Long walk.

Stock Market contemplation/action.

Beefeater Gin and Tonic with extra lime.

Sit down to one of Shirley’s delicious dinners.

Screen a black and white film.

In 2007 Clark suffered a stroke. Recovering control over his body and speech, he continued to love life, especially enjoying recordings of the jazz he had spent so much time hearing live in NYC for over fifty years at Fat Tuesdays, the Village Vanguard, the Knitting Factory and SOBs. Clark died in 2014.

And now, eight years later, Shirley has passed. At work on a children’s book starring her beloved marmalade kitty, her illustrator’s gifts were still intact. Fiercely determined to live at home until the end, she spoke of Clark many times during the last few weeks. Let us hope they are reunited on some plane - perhaps a Minetta’s Tavern in the Sky?

“How do you do? I’m Clark.”

“Hello Clark. I’m Shirley.”