Irene Toffey

GREAT BARRINGTON -- Irene Tobin Toffey, 73, of Berkshire Heights Road died yesterday at home after a long illness.

Born in Kent, Conn., on March 8, 1933, daughter of William R. and Irene White Tobin, she graduated from Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, Conn., in 1951 and earned her bachelor's degree and teaching certificate from St. Joseph's College in West Hartford, Conn., in 1955.

Mrs. Toffey was the first kindergarten teacher at Kent Center School. Before that, she taught second grade in Sharon, Conn.

She was a communicant of St. Peter's Church and of Our Lady of the Valley Church in Sheffield, and taught Confraternity of Christian Doctrine classes at both parishes for many years.

Her lifelong interest in fine art is reflected in her early activities with the Kent Art Association; her role as a docent at the Columbus (Ohio) Gallery of Fine Art, where she lived from 1963 to 1969; her past presidency of the Sheffield Art League, and, in recent years, her work as a guide at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. Her travels took her to galleries and museums throughout the United States and Europe.

Mrs. Toffey was a trustee and a reader for the Recording for the Blind and served as a member of the Democratic Town Committee.

She enjoyed playing tennis.

She and her husband, John J. Toffey IV, were married July 12, 1958.

Besides her husband, she leaves a daughter, Hannah Toffey Peters of Weston; three sons, John Toffey V of Barnstable, Joseph D. Toffey of Falls Village and Edward C. Toffey of Lexington, Ky.; two sisters, Mary Kirby of Sharon and Kathleen Marcon of Larchmont, N.Y.; two brothers, William Tobin and Joseph G. Tobin, both of Kent, and 13 grandchildren.

FUNERAL NOTICE -- A Liturgy of Christian Burial for Irene T. Toffey, who died June 9, 2006, will be celebrated Monday, June 12, at 1 at St. Peter's Church in Great Barrington by the Rev. Shaun O'Connor, pastor. Burial will follow in Kent School Cemetery in Kent, Conn. The family will receive friends at BIRCHES-ROY FUNERAL HOME on Sunday, June 11, from 2 to 5. Instead of flowers, friends are encouraged to make donations in Irene's memory to HospiceCare in the Berkshires in care of the funeral home, 33 South St., Great Barrington, MA 01230-1815.