Obituary of Jane Cowan Smith

Jane Cowan Smith, 99, died March 6, 2011, in the Hospice Care Unit of Penobscot Bay Medical Center, following a brief illness. Born in Uniontown, Pa., on Oct. 6, 1911, she was one of three children of Aurelius Hull and Maude Miller Cowan. She graduated from Erie High School, Erie, Pa., and attended the University of Pittsburgh as an organic chemistry major. After college, she moved to New York City, where she worked for the Manhattan Branch of the John Alden Company (yacht brokers). Jane was the great-granddaughter of Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, who is known as the Father of American Beekeeping. He invented the moveable frame beehive and authored "The Hive and the Honeybee." On Oct. 26, 1940, she married W. Arthur Smith Jr. of Boston, who predeceased her on their 50th wedding anniversary, Oct. 26, 1990. They spent 38 years of their married life in Hingham, Mass., where they raised their two daughters, retiring to Tenants Harbor in 1984. Jane will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, whose wonderful stories and sense of humor live in the hearts of those who knew and loved her. She is survived by her two daughters, Sherry Channing Smith of Hingham, Mass., and Susan Smith-Riedel of Tenants Harbor; her grandson, Arthur E. “Chip” DeLorenzo Jr. and his wife, Sondra, of Newcastle; her granddaughter, Dana Leigh DeLorenzo of Mansfield, Mass.; six great-grandsons, Joseph and Matthew Greene of Mansfield, Mass., and Quinten, Nicholas and Peter DeLorenzo of Newcastle; and one niece, Lucy B. Smith of Santa Rosa, Calif. She also leaves her good friends and the staff and residents of Bartlett Woods in Rockland, where she had resided since June 2006. A memorial service will be held Saturday, March 19 at 11 a.m., at the Episcopal Church of Saint John Baptist, Main Street in Thomaston. A reception will follow in the church. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Humane Society of Knox County, P.O. Box 1294, Rockland, ME, 04841. Online condolences may be expressed at directcremationofmaine.com.