Jean A. (Foote) Hamilton, age 100, of Cromwell, passed away peacefully on January 21, 2025.

Born on May 16, 1924, in New Britain, to Esther MacArthur Andrew and Willard A. Andrew, Jean was a beloved wife to husband the Reverend Robert E. Hamilton, and devoted mother to son Andrew (Debby) Foote, Janet Shier, and stepdaughter Lynne Hamilton Brown. She was a cherished grandmother to Debbie (Jim) Watson, Andrew Foote II, Rebekah (Brandon) Parker, Laura E. Ermini and Thomas W. (Elena) Ermini, Joshua (Angel) Brown, Michelle Brown, Nicole (Corey) Pincus, William Shier IV, and an exceptionally proud great grandmother to thirteen.

Jean moved to Newtown with her first husband William Foote whom she met while attending American International College in Springfield, Mass., a significant accomplishment during the 1940s when most women did not have the opportunity to do so. In between semesters, she worked at a New Britain factory putting rivets in canteens for the war time effort. Upon settling in Newtown, Jean was active in Girl Scouts, teaching Sunday school and tutoring French. In the late 1960s she started a job at The Newtown Congregational Church as church secretary serving for over twenty-two years as well as taking classes at Hartford Seminary.

Jean retired from the church and married Robert E. Hamilton in 1989 and began a new adventure as a minister’s wife as Bob served churches in East Hartford and Stafford Springs. After Bob’s retirement from the ministry, they moved to Cromwell. where she volunteered as the editor of the Pilgrims and Parishes newsletter published by the United Church of Christ, a position she enjoyed for many years. She actively served the Covenant Village Community with Bob, working on the dining room and tag sale committees.

As motivation and a reward for beating polio at age four, Jean received a Kimball piano that she kept and played all her life, regularly playing duets with other Covenant residents, Bach and Chopin for herself, and piano accompaniment for Chapel services. A lifelong lover of sewing and knitting, she took up quilting, which became a passion. She belonged to the quilting group at Rocky Hill Congregational Church, helping to make quilts for the church fair. She also constructed all hand made quilts for each of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, several of which received blue ribbons at quilting exhibitions. Her family treasures these items as well as memories of rowdy games of Chinese checkers, Scrabble and UNO!.

During her later years as her health and mobility deteriorated, she moved from the apartment she shared with her husband at Covenant Village of CT to the long-term care facility on the same campus, allowing Bob to visit daily, until he too needed additional care and became her roommate until his death in 2024. She will be greatly missed by all that knew and loved her.

A celebration of life will take place in the spring or summer at the convenience of the family. To share memories or send condolences to the family, please visit doolittlefuneralservice.com.