Claire E. Gildard) Schmitt

Claire Elizabeth Schmitt (née Gildard) was born on July 26, 1923 in Fall River, Massachusetts, and passed away on November 24, 2011 from the effects and complications of a severe stroke. Her 88 years were spent with family and friends, always ready with a smile, enjoying reading, music, learning, and the ocean.
She is survived by her brother Allen W. Gildard of Apple Valley, California, her sons Christopher A. Schmitt of Santa Rosa, California and Peter J. Schmitt of Denver, Colorado, and daughter Claudia A. Schmitt of Stow, Massachusetts. She is also survived by seven grandchildren, and one great grandchild.
Claire's early years were spent in Fall River and Swansea Massachusetts, which face each other across the Taunton River. She had strong memories of this as an idyllic time of gardens, family and friends. She attended Durfee High School in Fall River, and went on to earn a degree in economics from Mount Holyoke College in 1944. As the war drew to a close, Claire moved to Washington D.C. where she performed classified cryptography work as a civilian for the Army Signal Corps. There she met Samuel A. Schmitt, who she married in 1949. Together they lived in Arlington, Virginia, Cheltenham, England, Poughkeepsie, New York, Chicago, Illinois and finally Princeton, New Jersey. She lived over 40 years in Princeton before moving to the North Hill community in Needham, Massachusetts in 2006.
After raising three children, she returned to school to earn a degree in computer systems. She used her skills in a succession of organizations including Bell Labs, Princeton University, and the State of New Jersey.
Claire was of the generation forged in the Great Depression and the Second World War. She strove to provide educational opportunities for her children, and to ensure that the next generations would be better off than hers.
Donations may be made to UNICEF or Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation.

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