Jean Elizabeth Hayes Smith

Founder Of Christian Counseling Center In Huntington

Jean Elizabeth Hayes Smith, 84, of Roxbury, previously of Stratford, died May 6 at her home due to complications from a long illness. Born in Bridgeport, she lived in Stratford for 40 years before moving to Roxbury 21 years ago. She was the daughter of Fred J. Hayes and Ella May Hayes of Bridgeport.

She is survived by one son, Dunham H. Smith and his wife, Rebecca, of Newtown; three daughters, Suzanne Elizabeth Kallmann and her partner, Eric Cummings, of Lee, Mass., Deborah Ledgard Hunt and her husband, Geoff, of Ipswich, Mass., and Melissa Warner Mason and her husband, Bruce, of Norwich, Vt.; 13 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Her beloved husband of 64 years, Albert R. Smith, Jr, predeceased her by 12 days.

Mrs Smith graduated from Mount Holyoke College, Magna Cum Laude in 1943 and received her MS in education from the University of Bridgeport in 1961. She taught English at Bunnell High School in Stratford for 20 years and then in 1981 received her MS in counseling from the University of Southern Connecticut.

She became the founding director of the Christian Counseling Center in Huntington and practiced as a family therapist for 20 years. She designed and led support groups and started a branch of the center in Roxbury, where she lived.

Mrs Smith loved the theater and acted in, produced, and directed plays in college and community theater. She was fully engaged in life and dearly loved her family, friends, and enjoyed helping others. She enjoyed books, reading and the theater and was a member of the Roxbury Shakespeare Club. She traveled extensively with her husband, Albert, visiting some of the world’s most interesting places. Mrs Smith was a talented quilter and a member of the Meetinghouse Quilters of Washington.

She was a very active and faithful member of Roxbury Christ Church Episcopal, serving as a lay minister, and on numerous committees, including the Rector Search Committee.

Friends are invited to attend a funeral service on Saturday, May 13, at 12 pm, in the Dennis & D’Arcy Funeral Home, 2611 Main Street, Stratford, with the Reverend John Miller, rector of the Christ Episcopal Church in Roxbury, officiating. Burial of her cremated remains will follow in Union Cemetery, Stratford. Friends may greet the family Saturday morning from 11 am to 12 pm, prior to services. A joint memorial Eucharist service for Jean and her husband, Albert, will be held in the Christ Episcopal Church in Roxbury on Saturday, June 10, at 11 am.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Christ Church Episcopal, PO Box 4, Roxbury, CT 06783 or to New Milford Hospital Foundation for the Regional Cancer Center, 28 Elm Street, New Milford CT 06776 or via the hospital website, www.newmilfordhospital.org.

The Newtown Bee        May 12, 2006