Cassandra Goss Simonds of Freeport, Maine and a former Darien resident, died on May 6, at Scarborough Terrace Assisted Living facility in Scarborough Maine. She was 82.
Born in New Haven, June 16, 1933, to the late Chauncey Porter Goss III and the late Natalie Holbrook Goss of Middlebury, she graduated from Garrison Forest School in 1951.
She was a 1955 graduate of Connecticut College, where she received a degree in sociology. She attended the Columbia School of Nursing until her marriage to Charles Sprague Simonds in 1956.
She later received her master’s degree from Fairfield University and started a business as an independent educational consultant, which she ran for many years in Darien.
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— This obituary contains information from the obituary in the Portland Press-Herald.
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Dedicated to education throughout her life, she founded the first English speaking school for the children of servicemen in Okinawa, Japan during her husband’s deployment there in the late 1950s. She was also instrumental in starting the First Presbyterian Nursery School in New Canaan in the late 1960s.
She was the president of the Connecticut College Alumni Association Board from 1974 -1977. The college recognized her commitment by honoring her with the Agnes B. Leahy Award in 1980.
After moving to Maine in the 1980s, her volunteered as a docent at the Tate House in Portland, a property of the Colonial Dames of America of which she was a member.
As a member of the South Freeport Congregational Church, she used her considerable cooking skills to bring meals and comfort to many who were ill or shut in. Hers was a generous, loving heart and she will be greatly missed.
She is survived by her four children, Christopher, Melissa (Michael Vachow) Sprague and Reade; and her beloved grandchildren, Anna Simonds Glennon (Michael), Natalie Simonds, William Simonds, Sean Simonds, Carlyn Vachow and Christopher Vachow.
She is also survived by her sisters, Diana Ward of Beverly, Mass. and Tania Evans (Thomas) of Grafton, Vt. and Wilson, Wy.; and numerous much loved nieces, nephews and godchildren.
A memorial service is planned for this summer. Memories and condolences may be shared at the with the Coastal Cremation Services website.
Should you wish to make a donation in her name, please consider the Connecticut College Fund at or the Wohelo Endowment or Campership Funds.