Shelter Island Reporter Profile: Sherri Cavasini

Sherri Cavasini has been thinking a lot about Brazil lately. Now that she’s retired as manager of the Dering Harbor Inn, she’s decided to live there.  

Sherri grew up on Shelter Island, and as a high school junior did a student exchange program in Guará, Brazil. “My whole life changed,” she recalled near the window of her waterview office at the Inn that she’s managed for almost 35 years.

A crisis in Sherri’s life when she was 10 years old forced her to become an adult overnight. “I had to pull up my bootstraps, and I had a community of supporters and family here on Shelter Island,” she said. 

Her parents divorced, and her father, who had been head foreman for Rachel Carpenter, a wealthy Island resident, died young. Her mother remarried and is now buried on Shelter Island. “I’m glad I was brought up here,” Sherri said. “It’s a beautiful community. You can’t get better than our Fire Department, our ambulance, our police, our school, and all the volunteers.”

Her first weeks in Brazil were a difficult transition. The first family she was placed with in the student exchange program was not a good fit, and she didn’t speak Portuguese. But when she was accepted by another family, the bond was immediate.  

“They became my family,” she said. “I didn’t speak the language, so I learned the language.”  

When the program ended, Sherri went back to Shelter Island, graduated, and went to college, but whenever she could, she went back to Brazil to see her new relations. Her ties to them strengthened over the years, and she came to call her Brazilian parents “Mom and Dad.” 

On Shelter Island she had been raised in the Presbyterian Church, but her new, very large family were devout Catholics, so she converted. “They were such a good influence on me,” she said. “We’re a family of faith, but we’re also a family of fun, and we’re just very close.” 

When she was 20, she was legally adopted and added their name to hers, becoming Sherri A. Reeves Cavasini. “I speak fluent Portuguese with a New York accent,” she said.

In 1983, she moved to Brazil and stayed for three years working as a vocalist, singing in Portuguese and English. When she returned to Shelter Island, Gardiner’s Bay Country Club didn’t have a manager, so she applied, and became one of the rare women golf club managers in the state. She didn’t even play golf. She worked at Gardiner’s Bay until 1990, went to Brazil for a year, and came back to Shelter Island where she interviewed for what she thought was a job managing the restaurant at the Dering Harbor Inn. 

It turned out to be managing the whole place, eventually including the health club, pool, marina, residential units as well as the restaurant. 

The Dering Harbor Inn was built by Rachel Carpenter in the mid-1960s. “It was really, really popular,” Sherri said. “People would come from all over the region by boat for the Sunday smorgasbords.” 

In 1981, the Inn became a cooperative, and the rooms were sold off as apartments. Sherri worked for the management company and worked her way up to become property manager.

Islanders have Sherri to thank for bringing tennis pro Moussa Drame to the Inn. Mr. Drame started a tennis and fitness program, and his wife Bouchra created a series of dinners featuring Moroccan and Mediterranean dishes.

She’s planning to stay on Shelter Island until May, when she will move to a two-bedroom condo she bought near her family in Brazil. “I’m bittersweet,” she said. “I’m ready to go because I’m tired of working. But this place is my baby and it’s a little hard to let go. I have a footprint here.”

Sherri is probably as well known on Shelter Island Facebook pages as she is at the Dering Harbor Inn. “I come across as boisterous and opinionated, especially on Facebook,” she said. “I’m not as tough as people think I am. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I really do care about people.”

LIGHTNING ROUND — SHERRI CAVASINI

What do you always have with you? My rosary.

Favorite place on Shelter Island? Looking out over Dering Harbor from the bluff at the Inn.

Favorite place not on Shelter Island? Mohegan Sun.

When was the last time you were elated?  My 50th anniversary party in Brazil.

When was the last time you were afraid? The last time I had an asthma attack.

Favorite sports team? The Mets.

What is the best day of the year on Shelter Island? The day they light the Christmas tree in Chase Creek.

Favorite movie or book? The Shawshank Redemption.

Favorite food? Canja de Galinha, a Brazilian chicken stew, and it’s my favorite thing to make. 

Favorite person, living or dead, who is not a member of the family?  The actor, Mariska Hargitay. She’s overcome a lot of adversity.

Most respected elected official? Meg Larsen.