Gail R. Smith

Gail (Rogers) Smith, 84, of Rindge, died on Thursday 17 August 2023 at the All-American Assisted Living nursing home in Wareham, Massachusetts, following a rapid decline in health.

Gail was born May 12, 1939, to Lila (Knight) and Eliot Rogers in Newton, MA.  She joined her older brother Edwin and four years later they were joined by sister Elizabeth.  Gail’s father was superintendent of Newton Cemetery. 

Gail attended schools in Newton and later went to Ohio Wesleyan and George Washington University to earn her B.S. in medical technology degree. Gail was a keen sailor and captained the GWU sailing team.  She pursued her med tech profession in Monterey, CA and at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts.

In 1966 she married her high school boyfriend David W Smith.  They followed his parents to Rindge, NH where daughter Alexis and son Douglas were born. Gail, always an avid reader, became treasurer and trustee of the Rindge Memorial Library board.  She also was a Chapter 1 special education teacher at the Rindge Memorial grade school and helped many children learn to read. In addition to teaching, she also did a stint at the Monadnock Hospital in Peterborough, reviving her original career as a medical technologist. After her mother-in-law moved to the Good Shepherd Nursing Home in Jaffrey, Gail spent so much time there visiting that she ended her career as the home’s Director for Social Services, where she served as the liaison between families and their loved ones. After retirement she volunteered in the Special Ed room of Conant High School, until her health obliged her to stop.

Gail had always taken a lively interest in her home country and in the world, with much time spent in Swanzey and Cape Cod to visit her family and several trips to France to visit her daughter and family in Paris. She was an au pair in Germany and the UK in the 60s and most recently attempted to guide history by sending regular post cards of pointed advice to a US President.  Her penmanship was as flawless as her arguments surely must have been.  She was noted for the wry and funny greeting cards the family got regularly from her. She loved to go on local ‘adventures” with her dear friends Shirley Preston and Jean Fowler, driving on back roads that she had never been on before to see in which town they would come out. She always made it home eventually!

Gail is survived by her daughter, Alexis (Smith) Jubin, of Paris, France, and her son Douglas E. Smith of Swanzey, NH, her three granddaughters, Cécilia Jubin, Olivia Jubin and Bear Smith, by her brother Edwin H. Rogers, her sister-in-law Joanie Rogers, her sister Elizabeth Young and the Rogers/Knight cousins, nieces and nephews whom she loved dearly. She also leaves behind her longtime close family friend Jean Fowler. David W. Smith passed away in 1999.

At Gail’s request there will be no calling hours or formal funeral service. Her family will have an intimate celebration of her life in December when all her loved ones gather for the holidays.

Gail will be remembered by all her family and friends for her intelligence, kindness, and warmth. Gail also loved all the dozens of animals she had over her long life and would have been thrilled by any donations made to the Monadnock Humane Society in her name.