Obituaries
Jennifer Harper Smith, 56, of Leicester
LEICESTER — Jennifer Harper Smith passed away peacefully on Oct. 26, surrounded by her family, after a two-year battle with cancer.
She was born Jennifer Anne Harper on April 7, 1968, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to Richard Harper and Chyrl Merria. She spent the first five years of her life in downstate New York with her mother, father and younger sister Rachel Harper. Her parents then divorced and she moved to central New York (Syracuse area), where she lived with her mom, sister and step father, William Hunt, who would raise her as his own daughter. The word “step” was never used to describe either of them; it was always dad and daughter.
She graduated from Baldwinsville High School in 1986 and started to attend Syracuse University studying International Relations. She always loved languages and studied both Spanish and French in high school, and Russian at Syracuse University.
In November of 1987 she drove to UVM to visit a high school friend and this is where she met the love of her life, Joseph Smith. They began a long-distance relationship, back when there was no internet, no cell phones. So they wrote to each other faithfully. In 1989 she transferred to SUNY Plattsburgh to be closer to Joe and to study her new major, Spanish Education.
After graduating, she and Joe moved to central New York, where they were married on Aug. 22, 1992, in Baldwinsville, N.Y. Jennifer taught middle and high school Spanish at Otselic Valley and then Southern Cayuga Schools. Teaching was Jennifer’s greatest passion. It wasn’t the subject that she taught that she loved but rather her students. She was fortunate to often loop with her students year after year, building long lasting rapport. She left teaching when her new greatest passion emerged, her own children, Harper and Spencer. Being a stay-at-home mom was very challenging but worth every moment, good or bad. In 2004, the family moved to Middlebury, Vt., and began a peaceful life in a beautiful community.
It turns out that God had a plan for Jennifer that she couldn’t even have imagined. She became the Director of Children and Youth Ministries at the Congregational Church in Middlebury, once again allowing her the opportunity to work with young people. She spent 16 joyous years there doing what she did best — seeing, listening to and loving children and youth. She did not grow up in a religious family but God definitely found her.
She was predeceased by her mother in 1996, her sister in 2010, her step-father in 2011 and her father in 2021. However, she was not alone. Her church family always surrounded her and her family with love and support.
She spent nine months as the Director of School Age Programs at Mary Johnson, where she created new relationships with staff, parents and kids. She had to resign from that job in July 2023 when she fell ill from the two different types of cancer.
Jennifer loved a good cup of coffee with a friend or youth, she loved to be near or on the water, she loved spending time with her family, she loved the adventure of travel.
The memorial service celebrating her life will be on Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Congregational Church of Middlebury, Vt. In lieu of flowers you can give money to the afterschool program at the Mary Johnson Center at 81 Water St, Middlebury, VT 05753, or the Friends of Patients at the National Institute of Health (NIH) at www.friendsatnih.org/. The NIH cancer center was integral to keeping Jennifer with us for these last two years. The Friends organization supports the patients of the NIH during their treatment.
Arrangements are under the direction of Sanderson-Ducharme Funeral Home. Online condolences at www.sandersonfuneralservice.com.◊
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