Darienite (https://darienite.com/tag/darien-obituaries-april-2020)
Walter Lewis Burrows, Jr., 86, formerly of East Norwalk, passed away on April 17, 2020 in Wilton Meadows Health Care Center. Born Oct. 26, 1933, to Walter L. Burrows, Sr., an antiques dealer, and Viola A. (Hallett) Burrows an artist and interior designer, in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Walter was predeceased by a sister, Natalie, in 2001. The family moved to Darien early in Walter’s life.
Jean Anderson Rittenhouse Stouter passed away on April 5, 2020 at the Western Rehabilitation Care Center in Danbury. June 15 would have been the celebration of her 93rd birthday. She was born Jean Sylvia Anderson in Darien and was the eldest daughter of the famed Prohibition Era Darien police officer known as “the Lone Wolf of the Boston Post Road.” June 15, 2020, would have been the celebration of her 93rd birthday. Despite being born legally deaf and suffering from multiple sclerosis, Jean went on to defy all the odds with her indomitable spirit.
Brian White, a longtime resident of Darien who later moved to Stamford, died April 29. He was 54. Brian was born on Sept. 14, 1965. He attended Wright Tech High School.
Charles S. Billingham, formerly of New Canaan and New Milford, passed away April 23, 2020, at his daughter’s home in Asheville, North Carolina. Charles (Butch) was born in Stamford to the late Charles R. and Anne Billingham in 1937. He spent his childhood in Darien. Charles worked for the New Canaan Post Office as a mailman and later an assistant postmaster until his retirement. While living in New Canaan, he was a member of the United Methodist Church, where he was involved in several clubs and for a few years acted as Sunday School superintendent along with his wife, Gail.
Elizabeth F. Adcock (Betty), a resident of Norwalk and a former longtime resident of Darien, passed away on Thursday, April 23, 2020 at Norwalk Hospital. She was 87. Born on Oct. 14, 1932 in Stamford, she was the daughter of the late Peter and Henrietta Burke. She was raised in Stamford and was the youngest of eight children.
Jane Tyler Christie, 84, a long time Baltimore Area resident, passed away peacefully on April 30, 2020 in the company of family members in Auburn, Pennsylvania. Born in 1935 in Stamford to Walter and Janet Tyler, Jane spent her childhood in Darien, enjoying all that Long Island Sound had to offer. Jane graduated from Darien High School in 1953, obtaining her master’s degree from Harvard-Radcliff, where she met her husband, the late Alden Christie. Jane had a long career with the YWCA before retiring as the executive directer of the YWCA of the Greater Baltimore Area. She dedicated her life to helping those in need and supported numerous charities.
It is with great sadness that the family of Brigitte Lynn Wallace McKee, devoted mother, loving daughter, wonderful sister and friend, passed away on April 26, 2020 in Annapolis, Maryland at the age of 43 years, after a valiant struggle with breast cancer. Brigitte was a special person to all who knew her. She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside, always kind, thoughtful, and giving to others. Brigitte displayed honor, truthfulness, strength, and integrity in all she attempted and accomplished throughout her life. Brigitte was born in Orange, California and during her early childhood lived with her family in Newport Beach, California; Bronxville, New York; Darien, and Vienna.
Shirley Elsa Jennings ended her journey here on earth April 24, 2020 at the Huntington Living Center in Waterloo, N.Y. Shirley was 92. She was born Shirley Elsa Narvesen in East Rockaway, New York, one of three daughters of Frederick Conrad and Elsa Ehrenfels Narvesen.
In 1946, while working in a hospital in Hartford, she met her love, Robert Burton Jennings, who was finishing his degree at Trinity College after serving in the U. S. Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II. They were married in the chapel at Trinity on Aug. 30, 1947 and enjoyed 66 years of marriage before his passing in 2013. Shirley was a homemaker and raised the couple’s four sons in homes in Hooksett and Sunapee, New Hampshire, Rochester and Buffalo, New York, Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Norwalk and Darien, Grafton and Springfield, Vermont, and Stuart and Englewood, Florida.
Sue Williams Schenck, known to all as Sudie, passed away peacefully at home on April 27, from complications due to Parkinson’s disease, with her loving husband Steven Goodwin and caregivers at her side. Sudie was born in Philadelphia to S. Norman and Nancy Doggett Williams, and grew up in Darien. Her father was an executive with Alcoa and her mother was both a successful real estate agent and the president of the Planned Parenthood Association in Connecticut at a time when its mission was not well received by many. Sudie attended the Low-Heywood School in nearby Stamford, to which she maintained a lifelong connection, and then continued her education at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro where she received a degree in art history. In the late 1950s, Sudie moved to the Beacon Hill section of Boston with her first husband, Garret Schenck, where they raised their three boys — Van, Chris, and Trip.
Roslyn Green, formerly of Upper Nyack, New York and Piermont, New York, passed away peacefully on April 13 from natural causes at the Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital in New York City, across the street from the Amsterdam Nursing Home where she had been a resident the past few years. She was 96. While she lived in Rockland she was the wife of Murray Green and together they founded The Ford Products Corporation of Valley Cottage, New York, a once thriving manufacturer of oil and solar heating HVAC products and owner of the Carlin Company that is still in existence today. She was born on Feb. 24, 1924, in New York City and educated primarily at the Cherry Lawn School in Darien after the loss of her affluent parents, Lewis and Jennifer Kaye, at the age of 11 and 13.
Dimitrios Panourgias, formerly of Brooklyn, New York and Darien, passed away on Friday, April 24, 2020 at his son’s home in Darien. He was 83. Dimitri was born on March 28, 1937 in Argos Orestiko, Greece to the late Theodosios and Efegenia Panourgias. He spent his childhood in Argos Orestiko and later went to high school in Dimitsana, Greece. Dimitri was a loving father to Theodosios & Kim Panourgias and a beloved grandfather to Teddy and Tyler Panourgias and Marc Simonelli.
Robert Peter Daly of Fairfield passed away after a brief illness at Yale New Haven Hospital on Thursday, April 16. He was 64. Bob was a third-generation attorney, practicing law in Darien for more than 30 years. Born April 17, 1955, he was a graduate of Georgetown University and Georgetown Law school, a shining example of Jesuit education. He started his law career in Darien with MacInerney and Millar, later practicing with Humes Andrews, before opening his own practice in Darien in the mid-1990s.
Peter Benedict, a lifelong educator, died April 25. He was 84 years old. He was born in 1936 in New York City, but as a youngster, his home was primarily in Yonkers, New York, and its environs. Peter’s mother passed away while he was in his teens, and he was raised by his grandmother, Helen Andrus Benedict, daughter of John E Andrus, founder of The Surdna Foundation. He graduated from Rollins College with a B.A. in 1959 and soon thereafter served in the Army Medical Corps, primarily stationed at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas.
Stephen Grubiak, 67, of Norwalk, died Thursday, April 23, 2020 at Norwalk Hospital. Born on May 25, 1952. Stephen was a triplet, losing one sibling at birth. His was raised with his brother Michael. He graduated from Port Chester High School in 1972.
Dolores A. DeCaro, a longtime resident of Darien, passed away on Thursday, April 23 at St. Camillus Center in Stamford. She was born on June 4, 1930 to the late Angelo and Teresa (Journalist) DeCaro. Dolores attended Darien public schools. She worked at various companies in Stamford throughout the years and was a talented embroiderer and expert presser.