When Doris Aubuchon "Doe" Sprogis was a young girl in western Massachusetts, her dream was to study art in New York, but when her parents objected, she chose instead to pursue advertising and move to Boston. Her parents' discouragement of her early goal led to a lifetime of pioneering achievement and community service that won her many friends and made an indelible mark on the South End.

Mrs. Sprogis went from selling homes from her kitchen table at her West Brookline Street house in the early 1960s to becoming the first female owner of a real estate agency in the South End when she opened Sprogis Real Estate, now Sprogis and Neale, at 679 Tremont Street in the mid-1960s. She was involved in the inception of the South End Historical Society (SEHS) and the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA), as well as an active participant in many other South End cultural concerns.

Doe Sprogis passed away at 83 on Monday, June 15, leaving many in the neighborhood with fond memories to temper their sadness.

Mrs. Sprogis and her husband, retired civil engineer David Sprogis, bought their South End home as a young married couple in 1961 when they found that their neighborhood in Cambridge was getting too expensive. In 1966, she organized a house tour to benefit the League of Women Voters and at the same time to show Bostonians that the South End, viewed from other quarters as a depressed area, was a nice place to live. That same year, Mrs. Sprogis became a founding member of SEHS and chairperson of the society's house tour, according to SEHS executive director Stacen Goldman. Mrs. Sprogis served every year as House Captain of the tour, recruiting neighbors to open their homes and organizing security. Mrs. Sprogis's own home, in which she preserved many Victorian details lost in many other area homes and decorated with period furnishings, was included on last year's SEHS house tour.

Although she chose a different career path, her passion for art pervaded her home life and her community activities. Mrs. Sprogis was an avid painter, taking art classes and painting watercolors in her South End home and on the family's getaways to Provincetown and Westport, Mass.

Her son, Brad Sprogis, said in an interview, "She loved to paint. When she was very young she wanted to go to New York and go to FIT but her parents discouraged it. That's why she came to Boston and went into advertising. She loved diversity and took classes at United South End Settlements. She was very creative. She also tried her hand at developing bracelets and belts out of tapestry material that were sold at a shop in Westport. My children have been to the Museum of Fine Arts and the [Isabella Stewart] Gardner Museum many more times than I have because of my parents." Jean Gibran, widow of the prominent South End based artist Kahlil Gibran, recalled Mrs. Sprogis's efforts in putting together events from the BCA's early days, including her role as chair of a 1971 exhibit sponsored by the BCA and Provincetown Art Association as part of the 350th anniversary Pilgrim Harvest celebration. Gibran wrote, "Featuring over 50 artists, it was advertised as 'The first major contemporary art show held in New England in almost a decade.' Doe was instrumental in recruiting over 300 South End patrons and sponsors to support the show. She was a major force in planning the Provincetown and Cyclorama receptions. It was an exciting period in South End history and Doe enjoyed every minute of all the action." Gibran added, "We'll miss her energy and her love of life."

Mrs. Sprogis's son, Brad, now a partner in Sprogis and Neale, shared memories of his childhood on West Brookline Street, where people often entertained in their homes. Brad Sprogis spoke of an eclectic circle of family friends including Boston Symphony Orchestra principal cellist Jules Eskin and his wife, concert pianist Virginia Eskin; painter Laurence "Lonny" Sisson, renowned for his landscapes of Maine; Jerry Pinkney, a prominent illustrator whose work includes popular children's books and US postage stamps; and the late Dr. Leonard Cronkhite, cousin of CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite and the former head of Children's Hospital.

Brad Sprogis explained, "Before all the restaurants were here, you entertained in your home and people would play music. Lenny would play drums and Lonny played piano."

Colin Diver, who with his wife Joan was profiled in J. Anthony Lukas's Pulitzer Prize-winning book on Boston's busing era, "Common Ground", became a friend of Mrs. Sprogis during his South End days. Brad Sprogis remembers harmony among longtime South Enders and the influx of young white families in the 1960s. "In that period, there generally wasn't any tension between African Americans and Syrians who had been in the neighborhood and the families that were moving in," he observed.

Although Mrs. Sprogis was a history enthusiast and not a professional historian, her knowledge and her willingness to give of her time, expertise and social connections were of great value to SEHS executive directors Hope Shannon and her successor, Stacen Goldman. Shannon described her friend in an e-mail: "Doe was the perfect SEHS volunteer: She knew the history of the organization and she knew absolutely everyone in the South End. I can't count the number of times I met a new South Ender and we realized we had a common connection in Doe. Doe's volunteering brought her and me together often. I spoke with her almost every day during fundraising season and we met regularly at the SEHS office or at her home on West Brookline Street. These meetings began with SEHS business but turned into discussions about South End history, our families, and anything and everything else. I learned so much from her. When I think about my time at the SEHS, what comes to mind first are fond memories of happy times shared with the friends I made there. Memories of Doe are a major part of this and friends like her are why I remember my time at the SEHS with such fondness. I can't convey in words how much I'll miss her." Goldman, who succeeded Shannon in July 2013, also found Mrs. Sprogis a tremendous resource. "Doe, along with her husband Dave, was one of the earliest members of the SEHS, which was founded by their good friend Dick Card, who sadly also passed away recently. Doe was in fact, the chairperson of our very first House Tour in 1967 and served on every single House Tour committee since then. She worked tirelessly with us on our fundraisers and was an incredible asset to all of our efforts. I saw her at almost every one of our programs and fundraisers, and she would often call the office to talk over our latest initiatives and offer help and advice, which was invaluable coming from someone with her knowledge and experience. She was an incredibly vital contributor to the SEHS and will be sorely missed by all of us here." Goldman continued, "On a personal note, Doe has been a consistent presence at the SEHS ever since I took on this role and she was always a bright spot in my work. I feel truly lucky to have worked with a woman with such enthusiasm and drive. She gave me incredible encouragement; her confidence in me and in the organization truly inspired me to succeed, and I plan on carrying that with me in my tenure as director at the Historical Society. She was an inspiration."

Mrs. Sprogis was a mentor to her friend, business partner and local-history colleague, John Neale. Neale reminisced about Sprogis in a heartfelt e-mail, writing, "I met Doe when I was a young man who had recently moved to the South End in the early 1980's. She had a vast knowledge of the neighborhood and its history, but more importantly, she had a deep knowledge of the people who lived there. When Doe realized that beyond sharing a career in real estate, I also shared with her a great interest in the neighborhood and its history, our existing friendship grew and eventually Doe asked me to join her and her son Bradford in her real estate business. After my own mother passed away in 2000, Doe was not only my partner in business, but also became something of a surrogate mother to me. Her advice on everything from business to what I was wearing was always highly valued; she was always frustratingly right. Doe was a woman of great style, always dressed to the nines, but she was also a woman of real substance and someone who would always remember what was happening in someone's family and enquiring about their children or other loved ones."

Summarizing his impression of his late friend, Neale continued, "Doe was one of the great South-Enders. She had ceaseless energy, faith in an amazing urban neighborhood where she raised her own boys, and an embrace of life as something to be lived to the fullest." Longtime South End resident and realtor Greg Jackson also shared happy personal and professional memories of Mrs. Sprogis in a telephone interview. "Doe was an original. There was a colorful cast of characters in the South End when she moved in and she was one of them." Of her professional stature, Jackson observed, "Much of the South End is the work she did for the community and for real estate. I've been selling real estate since 1985. She was the mother of us all. She was a hard worker, very honest and cooperative with other brokers. She got most of her listings by giving back to the community. She got a lot of her listings by being involved in the neighborhood and being involved in many parts of the South End."

Jackson and his partner Peter Sanborn enjoyed their personal acquaintance with Mrs. Sprogis and her husband as well. Jackson recalled, "She enjoyed traveling and every time I saw her she asked me where we were going next. Peter and I ran into Doe and David at the Frankfurt airport. They were coming from the Baltics and we were coming from the Balkans. I thought that was funny." He also noted Mrs. Sprogis's unique mode of transportation. "When I first moved to the South End, she drove around in a Checker cab that was painted a different color and that's what she took her clients around in. It could accommodate a lot of people. She certainly commanded the road in that Checker cab." Jackson concluded, "She was everywhere in the South End Historical Society and in all the arts in the South End. She loved life and she had fun."

Doe Sprogis is survived by her husband, David Sprogis; her son David, his wife Cindy, and their son Max; her son Bradford, his wife Louise and their children, Madison, Brad and Lilly; her brother, artist Howard Aubuchon of Pennsylvania and his daughter, Rachel Aubuchon. Visiting hours will be from 4:00-5:00 and 6:00-7:30 PM at Trinity Church in Copley Square on June 25. A memorial service will take place at Trinity Church in Copley Square at 11 a.m. Friday, June 26, followed by a luncheon. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name may be made to the South End Historical Society, 532 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA 02118.