HARTFORD VILLAGE — Wendy Smith would sit on the benches of the dog park she helped to found and dispense wisdom to the group of people that came to regularly seek her out. Some variation of a small, white rescued dog would be at her feet or playing in the park in front of her.
“Everybody knew her, and everybody knew these dogs,” said Jeff Salloway, a friend of Smith’s from the Watson Dog Park, near the White River. “She was the guru of the dog park.”
Smith lived up the hill from Watson Dog Park in a one-bedroom post and beam home in Hartford that she bought for herself in 1990.
Smith was finely attuned to the lives of others, big and small, human and animal. And when she wanted something, she would make it happen for herself.
That was evident in her battle with ovarian cancer, which lasted for more than a decade before she died on March 8, 2021.
“Her doctor told her nine years ago that she wasn’t going to live more than a year,” said Pat Schaffer of White River Junction, Smith’s lifelong friend. They met at Plymouth State, where they both studied English.
“She told me her doctor actually apologized to her later,” said Schaffer.”She would say ‘Yep! I’m still here! He’s still wrong.”
Smith later went to school to be a respiratory therapist, and would serve on the faculty of the respiratory therapy program at River Valley Community College in Claremont.
Schaffer and Smith reconnected 15 years ago when they both found themselves living in the Upper Valley. They went for moonlight kayaks on the Connecticut and took trips to Dog Mountain in St. Johnsbury, 150 acres of open land where their dogs could run and swim.
“The thing that struck me was how much energy she had for somebody that was sick for so many years,” said Schaffer.
Mary Blanton knew Smith from the North Universalist Chapel Society in Woodstock, where she was a longtime, faithful member.
When Smith was diagnosed with cancer, she joined a meditation group introduced to her by the chapel called the Oneness Community. She also started independently researching homeopathic forms of medication, and she credited her longevity to a healthy diet and a strong spiritual practice.
“She was always willing to share what she had learned with other people who had also been diagnosed with cancer,” said Blanton. “Spiritual background for Wendy was really important. It was a strong part of her.”
Even while she was sick, Smith worked out regularly at the Upper Valley Aquatic Center. In her retirement, she worked at the Good Buy store in White River Junction and spent lots of time at the Hartford Library.
“She was one of the bright ones,” said Schaffer. “And she didn’t flaunt it.”
Smith had been badgering assistant librarian Deborah Milne to read Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales in her book group for some time, and she finally got her way last Christmas.
“She was a dynamo, even though I’d be surprised if she weighed even ninety pounds,” said Milne. “She was very well read and very knowledgeable, and she always had intelligent things to say.”
Milne said that Smith used the Hartford Library as a hub for another passion: genealogical research. Smith was a member of the New England Historical Genealogical Society, and often volunteered her talents to anyone that would take her up on it.
“She looked into my family history and found relatives that I knew nothing about,” said Schaffer.
Her genealogical studies even took her to Ireland to meet newly discovered family.
“She got herself on that plane only about four years ago,” said Schaffer. “She was going to keep going until the engine stopped. And she pretty much did.”
She also did genealogy work for almost everyone at the dog park. “She was always doing something for that park,” said Lorna Ricard of Hartford, who knew Smith from Watson.
As president of the park, Smith manned fundraising events, took pictures for the annual calendar, and threw the Dog-O-Ween party every October. “Anything that had to be done, Wendy was there to do it,” said Ricard.
Smith was the unofficial photographer for North Chapel, taking photos at every service on her iPad to contribute to the chapel’s website. “She catalogued absolutely everything,” said Blanton.
Smith was passionate about helping people in risk of going hungry, and would make an announcement about the food shelf every month. The chapel awarded her the ‘Unsung Hero’ award.
“She was just a very loving, special person. She was kind of shy, which seems like an oxymoron considering how much of a go-getter as she was,” said Blanton.
Smith’s raw energy didn’t distract her from slowing down. In addition to her meditation study, she was an active member of a poetry group and dedicated herself to spending time outside.
For 30 years, Smith took an annual, week-long trip to Acadia National Park in Maine accompanied only by whatever dog she had rescued at the time.
“She was intrepid,” said Blanton. “She knew what she wanted, and boy, she would go for it. It was just a beautiful, beautiful way to be. Some people who know what they want step on other people to get it. That was not Wendy. She was gentle and compassionate.”
She rescued her last dog, Aurora, or Auri, from Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. Smith died at her home in Hartford, with Auri by her side.
The Rev. Leon Dunkley, of North Chapel, visited Smith in her final days.
“When I went to see her she put me immediately to work,” said Dunkley. “And if you know Wendy, you do what she says.”
Smith instructed him to hang a mirror in front of her bed.
“The mirror looked very silly on the wall, not centered or balanced, but it was positioned in a way so that from where she was lying in bed she could finally see the light coming in. She just wanted light on all sides of her.”
“She was committed to good living, community, growth and kindness,” said Dunkley.
Not long before she died, Smith shared a haiku with her poetry group, which she titled “Day Break.”
“in deep dark winter whiles/at both ends of day’s face/blooms new light.”
She added an addendum to the haiku. “This one is a metaphor for hope,” Smith wrote.
Frances Mize can be reached at fmize@vnews.com.