Jane Bruns Smith

Born March 18, 1924, in Tallahassee to John Hamilton and Irene Howell Bruns, she was the last of their five children. She was doted upon by her older sisters, Caroline, Mary Frances, Irene (Deenie) and Eleanor. Jane always loved telling the tale of how her sisters and their friends would sit her on top of the dressing table and dress her up as a baby doll. Being born in 1924, Jane was selected as the Centennial Baby celebrating the 100th anniversary of Tallahassee’s founding.

A graduate of Leon High School Class of 1943, her favorite classes were math, sports (she lettered in tennis and basketball), and sliding down the circular fire escape at the original Leon High School. After high school she attended Florida State College for Women earning a degree in dietetics. She was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority. After graduation she briefly left Tallahassee for an internship at Duke University, and then to work at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. While in New Orleans she lived through a hurricane. Flooding swamped the basement and kitchen of Charity Hospital so that the staff had to carry meals up and down the stairs to the patients.

Returning to family and Tallahassee, Jane worked in the dining hall of Florida State University. “The boys” were back from “the war” and FSCW had “gone coed” becoming FSU. She met her future husband J. William (Bill) Smith, Jr., a graduate student in meteorology at FSU. They married in 1947, raised three children, and helped raise four well-loved grandchildren.

While predeceased by Bill, her husband of 57 years, her parents and her sisters, Jane is survived by her three children, Elizabeth (Betty) Kummer (James), John (Kay) Smith, Anne Fairchild; her four grandchildren, James (Al) Kummer, Jr., and Carey, William and Katie Smith; her niece Teresa Desilets-Ink (Ft. Myers); her sister-in-law Jeanette Klein (Beaver Falls, PA); three surviving Klein children; and five Klein grandchildren.

A life-long member of St. John’s Episcopal Church Tallahassee, a graveside burial service will be held at the St. John’s Episcopal Church Cemetery (200 N. Martin Luther King Blvd – NW corner of Call St. and Martin Luther King Blvd.) on Saturday July 27 at 10:30am. A gathering to celebrate her life will follow the service. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the St. John’s Episcopal Church (211 N. Monroe St. Tallahassee, FL 32301), or the Episcopal Church of the Advent (815 Piedmont Dr. Tallahassee, FL 32312).