JEAN SMITH 

SMITH, Jean Gorham Beloved wife, mother, and grandmother Age 94, passed away unexpectedly, on Saturday March 28, 2026, in the company of her family, after a brief illness caused by pneumonia. Jean was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, valued friend, encyclopedic librarian, and lover of books, cats, birds, travel, walking, puzzles, classic film, and beautiful shoes. Jean was born on June 15, 1931, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to John and Muriel Gorham. She and her sister, Claire, continued to think of St. Johnsbury as their touchstone and it shaped them as genuine, intelligent, and plain-spoken people. It was also in St. Johnsbury that Jean met her future husband, Leigh Smith, during his childhood summer visits to the town to visit his grandparents. Jean valued the St. Johnsbury Academy and credited the town's Athenaeum and Museum for her love of learning. Jean was the first in her family to attend a four-year college. After a brief stint at a college in New Jersey, Jean transferred to Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. As a student, one of Jean's favorite working experiences was running the Bookmobile during the summer in Vermont. Jean moved to New York City after graduation, where she enjoyed working as a librarian, especially as a children's librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library and a reference librarian at Pace College in Manhattan. She married Leigh on July 9, 1955. Leigh was serving in the Navy, so married life took them to bases in Newfoundland and Rhode Island, before they settled in Brooklyn, New York. In 1963, they left their jobs to travel in Europe for eight months. Their travels took them as far north as Norway and as far south as Greece. Later in life, they continued to travel abroad, culminating in a trip to the Mediterranean, where Jean had an opportunity in Tunisia to ride a camel, one of her favorite animals. After the birth of their daughter, Joanna, they moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, which is where their son, Geoffrey, was born. They lived in the same house in Brookline for nearly 60 years and enjoyed family vacations on Cape Cod. When Jean returned to work, she served as the secretary at First Parish in Brookline. Later, she took up positions at places such as the Kidney Foundation and Accounting and Bookkeeping Plus. In her nearly 30 years of retirement, Jean remained in her home in Brookline and had the opportunity to pursue her avid reading of many thousands of books, with a particular interest in history, mysteries, and English literature. She and Leigh continued to travel in the United States, Mexico, and Europe. They particularly enjoyed visiting Geoffrey in England and Joanna in Cyprus as well as the Hudson Valley and New York City. Jean leaves her husband, Leigh; her daughter, Joanna; and her son, Geoffrey. She also leaves her nephew, James Cohen; her son-in-law, David Kornblatt; her daughter-in-law, Caroline Ash; and her granddaughter, Violet Ash-Smith. A celebration of her life will be held in the Summer of 2026. Donations in Jean's name may be made to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (aspca.org)