The Martha s Vineyard Times
Vera Shorter died at her home on Martha’s Vineyard on Feb. 26, 2021, with her two daughters nearby. She was born in Huntington, Long Island, to Sue Hendrickson and Claude Groves in 1922, and had celebrated her 98th birthday in December with her 97-year-old friend Betty Dixon.
Her mother’s family lived on Long Island for over a hundred years, and were of Black American and Shinnecock stock. Her mother was a born musician, who with the help of her mother’s madam, learned to play the piano at an early age. Her father, 14 years older than her mother, was a WWI veteran who had fought in the 369th Infantry, commonly known as the Harlem Hellfighters. Due to the segregation of the American Army at the time, the 369th Infantry fought with the French, and won the Croix de Guerre for its heroism. Her mother’s musical talent would get the family through hard times by her work in nightclubs, bars, and churches. Vera was the youngest of three ch