Carole Schmidt Jennings

Carole Schmidt Jennings, daughter of Lieutenant Carl M. Schmidt, Jr. BFD and Elizabeth Carroll Schmidt of Bridgeport and Rotunda, FL passed away after a long illness on Sunday, June 30, 2019. Born April 22, 1940 in Bridgeport, Carole attended and graduated from Central High School in 1958. She received her Bachelor's degree from the College of New Rochelle in 1962, and later her Master's from Seton Hall University in 1974. She married Russell Bandré Jennings in 1964. Carole was employed by the NYC Board of Education as a Speech Pathologist from 1962-1978 where she organized and operated the first elementary school speech center, then organized and operated the first intermediate school speech center on Staten Island. She also taught at the New Teacher Workshop in 1974 and 1975. She and her husband moved to Fairfield in 1977 where she worked for the Fairfield Board of Education from 1978-1999. After retirement she worked as a preschool speech screener. She was a member of St. Pius X Parish, the Gaelic American Club, and a board member of the Retired Educators of Fairfield, for whom she planned UCONN basketball events at Harbor Yard. Carole loved to travel, visiting states from Maine to Hawaii. Carole was the inspiration to host 3 exchange students and to swap houses with a family in France. She was a catalyst for planning trips and vacations for groups of family and friends, including trips to Europe and Ireland. Camping was fun for her; she and her family survived the hurricane of 1955 in a tent at Lake Warmwaug. Her favorite trip of all was the yearly vacation at the Trapp Family Lodge in VT. She loved to bake her favorite breads and cheesecakes for friends and family, birthdays and holidays. Carole is survived and greatly loved by her husband of over 54 years, Russell Jennings; their son, Brian Jennings and his wife Kerry Brown, and granddaughter, Felicia Jennings-Brown of Manhattan; Gregory Jennings and his wife Kelly Brock Jennings, their children Madison, Kortney, and Gavin of Calabasas, CA; her sister Lois Schmidt of Plainfield; her nephew Adam Schmidt and his family of New Orleans; her niece Pamela Wilcoxson and her family of Greenville, SC; as well as many cousins. Carole was predeceased by her brother John Schmidt of New Orleans. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for Carole on Wednesday, July 3, 2019 at 3PM at St. Pius X Church, 834 Brookside Dr., Fairfield followed by interment at St. Michael's Cemetery in Stratford. Friends may call on Wednesday, July 3, 2019 from 10am to 1pm at the Spear-Miller Funeral Home, 39 South Benson Road, Fairfield. For information or to sign an online register, please visit www.SpearFuneralHome.com