Staci Smith, age 59 passed away peacefully surrounded by her family. She is survived by her husband Craig Smith of 28 years, as well as her son Gabe Smith, daughter Adriana Smith, and granddaughter Joshalyn Smith-Marques all of Centerville, MA, her father Raymond Dupre of Mesa, AZ, two brothers Mike and his wife Barbara Gerrow of Sherrill, NY, and Jim Gerrow of Amsterdam, NY, a sister Shelli and husband Tom Ford of Clinton, NY, as well as several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her loving mother Capitola "Cappie" Percivel Dupre and sister Debbie Howard both of NY. Staci leaves behind a vast amount of friends, neighbors, business colleagues, and prior students with whom she impacted their lives greatly.

Staci was always grateful to her two brothers Mike and Jim, who never forgot a birthday or Christmas for her children even to this day. Craig being an only child, had no siblings, so Staci's family was the only family they had. In the early years we spent many years traveling to upstate New York for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. In the later years Jim and Mike would travel to CT and Cape Cod on occasion. Many of our close friends also acted like family, especially Jane and Rocco who invited us to spend every holiday with them and their family, which we did on many occasions. Staci's absolute time was Christmas Eve which she looked forward to every year, for stuffed shells and beef braciole.

Staci grew up in Deansboro, NY and attended Watertown High School, and then went onto Hartwick College. Her first job after college was at Union College in a Development position for a couple of years, then she moved to Connecticut and worked for next 25 years at the University of Connecticut in Development for a couple of years and then to her absolute love of working in Admissions as a Senior Admissions Officer. The best thing about her job if asked was her students in the STAR program. This program had her students contacting prospective Juniors that were interested in attending UCONN. It was wildly popular because it was current students talking to prospective ones. They could be honest with them about campus and student life. Her main task was reviewing Freshman applications, at times she took chances on students who wouldn't normally make the cut, and all of them flourished and lived their dreams of becoming a UCONN student. She loved her students, and they loved her, many became close friends with Staci over the years. Staci also had lots of co-workers which she considered dear friends, many of whom she used to get together with outside of the office as well.

In 2011 we purchased a second home in Centerville, MA, we vacationed each year on Cape Cod where Staci hoped to retire one day. In 2018 we picked up the family, sold our house in Coventry, CT and moved to Cape Cod, MA to "live the dream". She worked several retail jobs until her final position was at Cape Cod Hospital's Urgent Care in Hyannis, as a receptionist. This position gave Staci the work/life balance she was looking for when winding down towards retirement in a few years. Staci also worked part time for UCONN reviewing Freshman applications for the Admissions department.

Staci loved living on Cape Cod because for her it was a little slower pace, friendly people, great neighbors, the calming coastal vibe, and always a short drive to a beach no matter where you were on the Cape. One of her favorite things to do was to go with Craig after work to Mayflower beach in Dennis for long walks on the flats at low tide during the beautiful sunsets Cape Cod has to offer. It would recharge her batteries, for what the next day had to offer. She loved eating the fresh seafood the Cape had to offer, whether it was Shrimp Scampi,

Lobster rolls, Lobster bisque, fish and chips or fish tacos. When she celebrated her wedding anniversary with Craig, she would always like to go out to dinner somewhere nice for a filet mignon steak dinner, a tradition they started when they lived in Connecticut.

Some of Staci's passions were to go on light hikes in Acadia and Bar Harbor Maine, Northwest hills of Connecticut, as well as the beach trails of Cape Cod. She loved playing couples Setback with Craig and their friends Dan and Kristen. She always loved the memory of Dan bidding "4" oops! Staci was also an avid New York Yankees fan. Never missing a game on TV and occasionally taking in a live game at Yankee Stadium with Craig and Gabe. Adriana was also involved in gymnastics. Staci was so proud of her for one time winning a hand stand contest at her gym against other students and even trainers. Staci loved seeing Adriana do handstands with different backdrops at the beach, around Cape Cod and Connecticut. Staci loved when Adriana would demonstrate her gymnastic flips on the beach and other beach goers would applaud her talent. She also loved watching the Pittsburgh Steelers with her son Gabe, which was his favorite football team and also became hers. Staci always loved to watch Gabe and Adriana's school sports games of baseball, basketball, Cross Country, and softball both home and away no matter the weather. When they were younger she loved to go on family outings for pumpkin picking, apple picking, to the beach, and country fairs. She also loved going to Disney World in Florida with the kids twice to see them light up with the Disney characters and rides. Staci also loved gardening and nurturing her inside plants; some of them came from her mom when she passed, which Staci was able to keep flourishing even to this day, others we brought from Connecticut. Her other summer passion was feeding the birds in our yard, especially the Humming birds, with sugar water in their feeders and the Baltimore Orioles, which she would put out grape jelly and oranges for all summer long.

Staci's dream of living on Cape Cod wouldn't have been possible if not for meeting our loving friends Kim, Nancy, and Toby on that fateful day at Crosby beach in Brewster, they went on to be our life long friends. We all talked about moving to the Cape to live the dream, which we all ended up doing. Unfortunately, our dear friend Nancy passed away in December 2022.

She had so many plans for what she wanted to do when she retired. Like buying a camper and traveling around to see all of the National Parks, visit all the baseball stadiums throughout the country, as well as the Spring training for her beloved New York Yankees. She also had hoped to travel to Ireland, Scotland, Greece, as well as Turks and Caicos. Fixing up our home, planting a vegetable garden and enhancing the gardens around our home. As well as watching her granddaughter "Jos" grow up. Staci was promoted to Mimi in 2025, and stepped up to help Adriana learn the ropes of becoming a new mother. After countless failed attempts Staci was the only one who could get Jos to take breastmilk from a bottle. When Adriana was struggling with postpartum Staci helped care for Joshalyn, love her, teach her how to clap, blow kisses, and say mama. Joshalyn could always put a smile on Staci's face and visited Staci often in the hospital just so she could blow her mimi some kisses.

On behalf of our family we want to thank the Doctors, Nurses, CNA's and other care givers at the Cape Cod Hospital, Mugar 4th floor, Davenport-Mugar Cancer Center, and the McCarthy Care Center - Hospice Care who took such good care of Staci while in their care.

Staci is leaving all of her family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers past and present much too soon in life, and will be greatly missed.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Staci's honor to:

MCCarthy Care Center

Hospice Care

73 Service Road

East Sandwich, MA 02537.

Two celebrations of life will be planned for Staci in the Spring of 2026. One in Connecticut and the other in Cape Cod. Please check back at a later date for the dates, and times.