Jewel A. GUTMAN

GUTMAN, Jewel A. (Adler)

Jewel A. (Adler) Gutman, a 52-year resident of West Simsbury, died Monday, (July 29, 2013). Jewel was born August 2, 1929 and raised in Manhattan, NY. She attended Smith College where she obtained both her graduate and undergraduate degrees as a student of German. After graduating from Smith, she married the late John S Gutman. For five years they lived in New Rochelle, NY before moving to West Simsbury in 1961. During her 52 years as a resident of West Simsbury, she was very active in Simsbury's affairs. Jewel was involved with the Hartford Board and the National Board of the YWCA, the Education Subcommittee for the Simsbury Community Development Action Plan, the Simsbury Board of Education which she served on for several years and eventually chaired, the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE), the School Finance Commission, the Capital Region Education Council, the Board of Ethics, the Civitan Club of Simsbury & Farmington Valley, and the Simsbury Community Television Board. She chaired the Charter Revision Commission and she officiated as president of the Simsbury Chamber of Commerce. Finally, she was instrumental in establishing the ABC House in Simsbury. In 1999 she became the first woman ever named as Simsbury Chamber of Commerce's Business Leader of the Year and "one of Simsbury's Honored Hometown Heroes." At the time of her death, she was a board member of Simsbury Main Street Partnership and an ongoing member of the Simsbury Garden Club. In 1978 she earned a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law. She began her career as an attorney representing battered women at Legal Services of Meriden where she spent a year. After leaving, she joined the law firm of Sullivan, Lettick & Schoen in Hartford. In 1988 she became a partner of Francis, O'Neil, & Del Piano, located on Station Street in Simsbury, where she specialized in juvenile law and remained until her retirement in 1999. After the death of her husband, John S Gutman, in 1994 she made a substantial donation to the Simsbury Public Library. In 2008, the Jewel and John Gutman Resource Center of the Simsbury Public Library became a reality. For many years she was also a committee member and sponsor of the Drake Hill Flower Bridge. She will be remembered for her keen interest and participation in the improvement of Simsbury as a community, hosting gatherings, attending theatre and music performances with her friends, maintaining long-standing and long-distance friendships, traveling, and spending time with her series of dogs (mostly one basset hound followed by another). She is survived by two daughters, Judith E. Gutman and Sandra Lynn; two grandchildren, Nicholas and Chandon; her brother William Adler, and her current beloved basset hound, Romeo.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations in her name to the Simsbury Public Library, 725 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury, 06070, McLean Health Center, 75 Great Pond Rd., Simsbury 06070 or the Drake Hill Flower Bridge, C/O Simsbury Farms, 100 Old Farms Rd., West Simsbury, 06092. A service is being planned for late September. For information about the memorial, please call 781-320-9069. Please visit Jewel's "Book of Memories" at www.vincentfuneralhome.com for online condolences.