Mary Starr Smith Adams, also known as “Skippy” by those who loved her, passed away on Sunday, October 4, 2020, at the age of 87. A lifelong resident of Newtown, she was the daughter of Paul Scudder Smith and Starr Conger Smith. Mr Smith was publisher and editor of The Newtown Bee, a family-owned weekly newspaper, until 1973.

Skippy in her very young years always went to summer camp. A well-remembered letter she wrote home to the family read, “I don’t like it here, I want to come home. It makes me want to cry and sometimes I do.” Home was so important to her.

She was a graduate of the class of 1950 at Walnut Hill School, Natick, Mass., and received a Bachelor of Science from Hood College, Frederick, Md., in 1954.

Skippy married Kenneth M. Adams at the Newtown Congregational Church on July 31, 1954, with a reception following at the weekend home of her parents on Lake Candlewood. Guests were all gathered to send off the couple in a car with tin cans tied to the bumper when to their surprise they saw Skippy and Ken speeding across the lake in a motorboat with her brother Ted at the wheel. The last laugh was on them, though, as the boat broke down and they had to be towed ashore to find their hidden getaway car.

Skippy with Ken, who eventually became CEO and president of Newtown Savings Bank, made their home at The Old Road in Newtown, where she lovingly raised her sons. She resided there after Ken’s death in 1997 till 2001, moving to Southbury’s Heritage Crest Condominiums, but returned to her beloved Newtown in 2010 to live in a cottage on her son Milton’s property.

Throughout her lifetime Skippy was a family girl, always putting the needs of others first. She had a great love for dogs and always had one by her side, usually one from a rescue program. Her joy was in giving them extra treats.

She was a member of the Newtown Congregational Church where she was a Sunday School teacher, a life member of the Newtown Historical Society, and a member of the Scudder Association and the DAR. She was a former board member of the Visiting Nurse Association of Newtown, and a driver for Meals on Wheels.

Skippy is survived by three sons, Milton Adams and Susan Day of Newtown, Stuart and wife Karin of Woodbury, and Philip and Nancy of Southbury; six grandchildren, Kathryn, Jason and wife Lauren, Krista, Joshua and fiancée Sarah, Thaddeus, and Tyler; two great-grandchildren, Sawyer Brooke Adams and Axell Ryder Adams; and two brothers, Scudder Smith and wife, Helen, of Newtown and Ted Smith of Lake Almanor, Calif. She has three nieces, one nephew, and many cousins.

She was predeceased by her grandson, Paul Raimund Adams, whom she adored; by Ted’s wife, Mary Jo; and by her godchild, Jacqueline Starr Smith.

She will be missed not only by her family but her many cherished lifelong friends.

The Adams family would like to thank the caregivers from ABC of Western Connecticut for providing loving care and friendship during her final years.

A private burial for family will be held at the Newtown Village Cemetery.

Donations can be made to National MPS Society, PO Box 14686, Durham NC 27709, in memory of Paul Adams.