Avis de décès de Joan-E. Smith - Nécrologie - MesAieux.com

ObituaryJOAN E. SMITHITHACA - Joan Dolores Anne Elsen Smith, 82, of 427 Savage Farm Dr., Ithaca, died Sunday, May 25, 2003, at Kendal of Ithaca, after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. She was born in Brooklyn, NY on September 16, 1920, the daughter of the late Daniel G. Elsen and Florence Kidd Elsen.She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Julian C. Smith; her sons, Robert E. (Donna) of Washington, DC, and Brian R. (Kim) of Glastonbury, CT; daughter, Diane L. Brook (David) of Cardiff, Wales; four grandchildren, Joanna Brook of Cambridge, England, Lisa Brook of Bristol, England, Daniel Smith of Washington, DC, and Celeste Smith of Glastonbury, CT; her sister, Eileen Bagley of Peabody, MA; her niece, Carol Langer (Rob) of Lexington, MA; her nephew, Mark Bagley of Jackson, MI; and numerous cousins.A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Rev. Ronald Gaesser on Friday, May 30, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Catherine of Siena Church. Interment will follow in Queen of Peace Mausoleum, Calvary Cemetery. Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 29, 2003, at Bangs Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to St. Catherine of Siena Parish, 301 St. Catherine Circle, Ithaca, NY 14850, or to Covenant House, 346 West 17th St., New York, NY 10011-5002. Joan grew up in Belair, Long Island, and attended St. Agnes High School where she was valedictorian. She won a scholarship to Good Counsel College in White Plains, NY and received her BA degree, cum laude, in 1941. By then her family had moved to Wilmington, DE. She took secretarial courses and worked in the Purchasing Department of the DuPont Company.In 1943, she met her future husband, Julian C. Smith, and married him on June 1, 1946, and soon moved to Ithaca where Julian was to teach at Cornell. She became a devoted wife and mother and took excellent care of her family and her house at 711 The Parkway in Cayuga Heights, where she lived for 51 years.When her children were grown, she commuted to Syracuse University to obtain the degree of Master of Library Science (M.L.S.) in 1971. From 1973 to 1977, she was in charge of the Groton Public Library, then became an Associate Librarian in the Map, Microtexts, and Newspapers Department of the Olin Library at Cornell. She retired in 1986.Joan had many interests outside her family. She studied Asian Art at Cornell and graded papers for the Art History Department. She was president of the Jayncees, the women's branch of the Ithaca Junior Chamber of Commerce, and was active in the Cornell Campus Club, Engineering Wives Club, Ithaca Garden Club, and P.E.O. She was the founding member of the St. Catherine of Siena Parish, was active in the Parish Council, and was a founder of the St. Benezet Group. She sang with the St. Catherine's Choir and with the Cornell University Chorus and the Ithaca Civic Opera Association. She created a computerized index to the Ithaca Journal obituaries and published annual indexes for the years 1980 to 1999. Deeply interested in genealogy, she assembled a great deal of information about her family and that of her husband.Joan was always gentle, loving, faithful, kind and considerate, and active in good works and good causes throughout her life. She had a beautiful and useful life, and was deeply loved by her family and her many friends.