David Boyd Ward

Family/Spouse: Linda Kuenkler. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

David married Jean Whitman Soper on 21 Aug 1944 in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, USA. Jean was born on 20 Jul 1925 in Troy, New York, USA; died on 25 Nov 2017 in Lyme, Connecticut, USA; was buried in Grassy Hill Cemetery, Lyme, New London County, Connecticut, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Jean Soper Lee, age 92, died November 25, 2017 at her home in Lyme, Connecticut after a brief illness. She enjoyed visitors and memories in the days preceding her death and relished the gathering of family. She was born Jean Whitman Soper on July 20, 1925 in Troy, N.Y. to George Albert Soper, Jr. and Carmen Machado Whitman Soper. Jean grew up in Old Saybrook's historic Black Horse Tavern before the family moved to Ingham Hill to run a pheasant farm and host weekend sportsmen. She attended Fox Hollow School for Girls in Lenox Massachusetts and attended Edgewood Park Junior College at Briarcliff Manor, New York. At 17 she attended the Powers Modeling School in York York and followed this with modeling jobs and work for Thedlow, a firm of interior decorators. She spent the majority of her life in Connecticut, including the towns of Old Saybrook and Westbrook, and her home on Grassy Hill in Lyme was by her own accounting the most beautiful place she had ever seen. A close second was the Margaree River in Nova Scotia where she enjoyed annual autumn fishing trips for salmon. Jean was a strong presence in the community, serving on school boards, garden clubs, church committees, the Grange, and almost any other civic function for which she heard a calling. An avid naturalist, Jean will be remembered for her love of flowers, animals and especially the songbirds lovingly fed year-round. She especially enjoyed the holidays this time of the year and was known for her collection of art, artifacts and random collections that gave a museum feel to her rustic house on the hill. Above all else, Jean was a loving mother - grandmother extraordinaire, aunt, and sister, too - and will be remembered as a caring soul who welcomed extended family members and friends in need into her fold with love and tenderness. She is survived by her four children: David Boyd Ward, Jr. and his wife Linda Kuenkler Ward of Essex; Hunter Ward, Sr. and his wife Cheryl Weaver Ward of Lyme; J. Penelope Ward Smyth and her husband Paul J. Smyth of Lyme; and Richard H. Lee, Jr. and his wife Heidi Booth Lee of Deep River, Conn. She is also survived by seven grandchildren - Justin Brant Ward of Alameda, Calif.; Kimberly Ann Ward of La Quinta, Calif.; Hunter Ward, Jr. (Christina) of Old Lyme; Austin Ward Dienst (Meghan) of Seattle; Richard Newton Lee of Dudley, Mass.; Seth Joseph Lee of Salem, Mass.; and Nolan Ward Smyth of Lyme - and five great-grandchildren. Jean is also survived by her sister Carmen (Nita) Mulliken O'Dell (Kenneth) of Driggs, Idaho but was predeceased by her brother George McLeod Soper and his wife, her soulmate, Suzanne (Hebe) Moeller Soper. Jean's first husband of 11 years, David Boyd Ward, and her second husband of 38 years, Richard (Dick) Harding Lee, Sr., also predeceased her. Aunt Jeannie will be deeply missed by her devoted nieces and nephews. There will be a memorial service on Saturday, December 30, 2017 at 2 p.m. at the Grassy Hill Congregational Church in Lyme, where she served as president for numerous years. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made in her memory to the Grassy Hill Congregational Church, P.O. Box 1391, Lyme, CT 06371
--Published in The Hartford Courant on Dec. 10, 2017