Tracy Jo Smith

Tracy Jo Smith, age 59, of Bridgeport, CT passed away in the early morning hours on Thursday, August 28, 2025, at Yale Smilow Cancer Hospital in New Haven, CT surrounded by love, laughter, songs, tears, prayers, and shamrocks. Tracy's friends and family kept a vigil by her side until she was ready to leave us and start her next great adventure.

Tracy's story began at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. where she was born on August 20,1966. She was the daughter of Stephen Hackett Smith and Patrice Mary (Cluxton) and older sister to Tim and Sam.

Tracy attended Notre Dame Catholic High School in Fairfield, CT and Western Connecticut State University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree. She was a devoted social worker dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for her elderly and disabled clients. Many of her clients, and co-workers, became dear friends along the way. She started her human services career as a Case Manager at The Kennedy Center, Inc. in Bridgeport, CT before moving on to the Southwestern Community Agency on Aging where she held roles as a Care Manager and Transition Coordinator.

Tracy loved pizza, people, and all creatures great and small, especially bees. She had a compassionate heart when it came to helping others and often donated her time and talents knitting baby hats, blankets, and booties for local charities. During the Covid pandemic, she kept herself busy sewing customized masks and collecting food and clothing donations for those in need.

She enjoyed DIY projects, defending her love of Candy Corn, the outdoors, and spending time in her magnificent garden at "3808". She assigned special nicknames to her friends and was known for sending handwritten cards written in her beautiful, perfect, penmanship. She was a stickler for grammar and had a sharp, Irish wit! Tracy was a brave, beautiful, thoughtful, kind, soul who worried about others, but didn't want others to worry about her.

She will be remembered for her unique, self-deprecating, sense of humor, and for being strong and stubborn, fun and funny, and positively resilient until her very last breathe! Tracy's cancer journey took seven years of her life, but she never let cancer dictate her life, her attitude, or the impact she wanted to make on her little corner of the world.

Tracy Jo Smith was pre-deceased by her parents, Stephen Hackett Smith and Patrice Mary (Cluxton) Smith. She is survived by her younger brothers, Tim (Donna) Smith of Danbury, CT and Sam (Lisa) Smith of Newtown, CT. As well as her niece Morgan and her nephews Sam and Liam. Tracy also leaves behind her beloved fur baby, Tuzzi Pazzi, her special friend Alyssa Reilly ("Baby Bird"), and a vast and wonderful collection of friends both near and far from as far back as her childhood days in Bethel, CT, to her beloved ND Class of '84 High School pals, to college buddies, and co-workers, and everyone in between!

We extend our sincere and heartfelt thanks to Tracy's Oncologist, Dr. Neal Fischbach, with whom she shared a special bond. We extend immeasurable gratitude to all of Tracy's amazing nurses on the 12th Floor at Yale Smilow Cancer Hospital who cared for our friend with such tenderness, comfort and grace. You are angels on earth!

A special THANK YOU goes to Morgan Leary for doing the hard and sacred "stuff", for making the necessary but heartbreaking decisions that gave our Tracy peace in her final days. And to Jody Semons, THANK YOU and your precious family for welcoming Tracy into your home and for being everything to Tracy that she never knew she needed.

Despite the suffering and setbacks that Tracy endured these last seven years, she believed herself to be "an all-around lucky gal". As the end of her story drew near, she shared that she was at peace knowing that "she lived a kind and compassionate life".

Tracy's "Kind and Compassionate Life" will be celebrated on Sunday, October 19, 2025, from 1:00 - 4:00 pm at Brewport, 225 South Frontage Road, Bridgeport, CT 06604. We hope you can join us.

Should you wish to honor Tracy's spirit of compassion, please consider extending an act of kindness or donating to a non-profit in her memory. A Memorial Scholarship Fund will be set up in Tracy's name at Notre Dame Prep in Fairfield, CT.

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