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In Memoriam

Jean Smullens, 86

August 8, 1935 - November 24, 2021

COOPERSTOWN – Jean Smullens, “Grandma Jean”, 86, passed away peacefully at home in the company of her children late Wednesday night, November 24, 2021.

The youngest of three, Jean was born on August 8, 1935, to Walter and Elizabeth (Martzloff) O’Connell in Lowville. She graduated from Lowville Academy and Central School in 1953, where her parents were both teachers. She attended Albany Medical Center School of Nursing, where she met her husband, Robert. In 1959, Bob and Jean were married in Lowville. Later that year Jean received her RN accreditation and the two took up residency in Johnstown where she began her nursing career as a staff nurse at Johnstown Hospital and then later, as a clinical instructor at St. Mary’s Hospital School in Amsterdam. In 1964, after obtaining her BS in Nursing from Russell Sage College, Bob became a partner in Church & Scott Pharmacy, and the two moved to Cooperstown.

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