Jean D. Godley

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Jean D. Godley, which occurred on December 13, 2022. Jean was born to Helen and Michael Dunne on May 28, 1938, Jean was raised in Flushing, Queens, New York. Although she was an only child, Jean considered her first cousin Thomas Jones, who lived nearby, to be her brother, a close relationship that would endure and sustain her throughout her life. Jean majored in English at Barnard College, and her love of literature was a constant throughout her life, always an avid reader with a book at her side. The love and center of Jean’s life was her family, including John, her husband of 62 years who proceeded Jean in death on October 1, 2022. Jean met John during college when she ‘accidentally’ dropped her books in front of him at the Columbia University sundial. Jean is survived by her four children: John, Lucy, Mark, and Amanda; their respective spouses: Natalie, Alfonso, Julia, and Ron; and her ten grandchildren: Joseph, Sarah, Andrew, Sofia, Julian, Brooke, Sierra, Autumn, Luke, and Nolan. Decades-long friendships, extended family, and community friends were central to Jean’s life and spoke to the value she placed on connecting with others. Jean loved everything around her, especially her pets throughout the years, including dogs: Max, Basil, Tasha, Dinah, Annie, Bering, and Clyde, and cats: Toby, Aloysius, Josephine, Seamus, Remy, Emmett, and Tilly. Jean was well known for her love of cooking, especially family recipes and new dishes from Southern cookbooks. Most afternoons, you’d find her in the kitchen cooking for family. Like her mother, Jean adored New York City, where she enjoyed pre-show lunches at favorites like Mary Elizabeth’s, Carmine’s, and Sardi’s, followed by Broadway musicals. Jean was known for a generosity that seemed to know no bounds, and anyone within her sphere knew the magic of Jean’s knack for giving the perfect gift at the perfect time, a skill honed by her astounding memory. She was always thinking of others and trying to brighten someone else’s day with food, flowers, or some gesture of thoughtfulness. A Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, January 7, 2023 at 10am at Saint Paul IV Parish, St. Rita Church, 1620 Whitney Avenue, Hamden, CT 06517 with a burial to immediately follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery, 3110 Whitney Ave, Hamden, CT 06518. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her name to Our Lady of Grace Monastery, 11 Race Hill Road, North Guilford, CT 06437.

Jean D. Godley

May 28, 1938 - December 13, 2022