Therese E. (Bernard) Smith, 97, passed away peacefully on Feb. 8, 2025, at St. Anne’s Retirement Community, Columbia, Pennsylvania, where she had resided for 6 years. She entered hospice there a few months before she passed.
Therese was born on August 29, 1927, in Nashua, NH, the 4th of 6 (surviving) children of Regina (Desmarais) and Dosithé Wilfred Bernard. She attended local schools and then Rivier College, also in Nashua. She earned a Biology degree in 1950 and ventured out of New England to take employment at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland, where she worked for the majority of her career as a lab technician before retiring. Around 1958 she met the man who would become the love of her life, Donald Smith; they married in 1960, and daughter Christina came along in 1961. The family resided for many years in Kensington, MD.
Therese and Don loved hiking and birding and took many trips to the Blue Ridge Mountains, Assateague Island, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and many other beautiful places. Sadly, Don passed away in 2000. Within a few years, Therese relocated to Avon, NC, where she continued hiking and birding. She became a member of Our Lady of the Seas Catholic Church and made wonderful friends there and within her condominium complex. She enjoyed entertaining them as well as far-away friends and family in her lovely condo overlooking the ocean. As she aged, the 64 stairs up to her condo became challenging, so Tina helped her find a place (with elevators) closer to herself, with a Catholic community, and in a peaceful country setting: St. Anne’s Retirement Community in Columbia, PA.
Therese is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Tina and Rick Davenport, of Phoenixville, PA; her sister Irene Bathalon, of Bedford, NH; two granddaughters, Halle Davenport (NJ) and Michelle Davenport (MO); and numerous nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews in ME, NH, MA, NC, CA, OR, and Portugal.
She is buried next to her beloved Don in Gate of Heaven cemetery in Silver Spring, MD. Her family and friends loved her dearly, and she will be deeply missed.
To celebrate Therese’s life, donations may be made in her memory to the following organizations: St. Anne’s “A Day of Stay” Benevolent Program (call 717-615-3928); Cornell Lab of Ornithology; or National or local Audubon Societies.
