Mrs. Priscilla S. Scheiner

Priscilla S. Scheiner (née Miriam Priscilla Smith, formerly Priscilla S. Bourgeois), 97, passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 12, 2022, in hospice care at Kimball Farms (Lenox, MA) following a stroke. Born in Simsbury, CT on April 10, 1925, she was the daughter of Esther Deming Holcomb and Walter Baker Smith of Simsbury/Weatogue. Priscilla graduated in 1943 from Simsbury High School and in 1945 from Westbrook Junior College in Maine. She married Louis Edward Bourgeois in 1945 in Simsbury, and together they raised four children: Sandra Lou, Joanne, Louis Edward Jr., and Lynn Roselle. Divorced in 1973, Priscilla moved to Newington, CT, where she met Harvey Scheiner in 1977; they later married and moved as a couple to Spring Lake Village in Southington, CT. Following Harvey’s death in 2018, Priscilla moved to Kimball Farms in Lenox, MA, where she made new connections and enjoyed her last years. While her children were young, Priscilla was active in the Simsbury 58 Club and Simsbury’s First Congregational Church, as well as in her children’s activities and other organizations. She wrote stories for the Farmington Valley Herald and held various work-at-home positions with clerical and financial responsibilities. Priscilla began working full time in the early 1970s in administrative positions, culminating in her position as Executive Director (1980-1990) of the American Epilepsy Society (AES), a professional organization of doctors and scientists working toward the prevention, treatment, and cure of epilepsy. During these years and following her retirement, she was an active volunteer for her condominium association (including president for many years), as a tax preparer for AARP, and as a subject for UConn medical research studies. She was active in the DAR (Abigail Phelps Chapter) and as an organizer of her high school and college class reunions. If one thing defined Priscilla beyond family and work, it was downhill skiing. We remember how she would whoop with joy as she threaded glades and sailed down the groomers. She started skiing at Simsbury Ski Hill (https://www.nelsap.org/ct/simsbury.html) shortly after it opened in 1936 and introduced her husband Lou and kids to skiing there. In the 1960s the family skied at Mt. Ascutney in Vermont, and Priscilla continued to frequent Vermont areas after the kids grew up. Joining Mountain Laurel Skiers in the 70s, she discovered powder in the Rockies and Alpine skiing in Europe. An inveterate maker of lists, Priscilla documented 16 trips out west (several with daughters and granddaughter Kim) and 5 to the Alps. Her favorite became Taos (free after age 70!), and she continued to ski at Mt. Southington till 2005 at age 80! With her new husband Harvey, an avid sailor, Priscilla gamely learned the ropes and came to love their many trips in southern New England seas. They hosted many excursions involving family and friends and introduced granddaughter Kim to sailing. Priscilla also became a seasoned traveler in the U.S. and Europe -- another list -- 130 trips from 1973 to 2014! Her position at AES included organizing their meetings, so she traveled both to plan and to execute those events, including in Seattle where daughters had a reunion with her. We remember especially two family trips to France, one for her 75th birthday and another to celebrate Kim’s college graduation. Raised in the congregational tradition, Priscilla later found inspiration in A Course in Miracles, attending a number of workshops and making new connections. She was a skilled networker and also started a women’s group in her condominium complex. In her retirement, Priscilla dove deeply into the family genealogy, traveling to several genealogical libraries as well as to her father’s home town of West Chesterfield, MA. When her short-term memory weakened, she could still look at old photos (new to her) and name all the family members. Priscilla was also a lover of cats, raising a number over the years and then cat-sitting for friends and family. Priscilla loved life and danced to the end. She leaves her daughters Sandy Bourgeois (Sarah Lytle) of Key West, FL, and Richmond, MA, and Jody Bourgeois of Seattle, WA; son Louis Bourgeois (Catty Sigüenza) in Cuenca, Ecuador; granddaughters Kimberly O’Toole Eckhardt (Eric Eckhardt) of Framingham, MA, and Amalie Bourgeois of Cuenca; great granddaughters Adriana and Kaitlyn Eckhardt; and stepdaughters Ellenjane Scheiner and Amy S. Shaw. She was predeceased by her husbands, her daughter Lynn Bourgeois and brother Thomas Smith. Memorial donations may be made to the Berkshire Humane Society (https://berkshirehumane.org/ ) or a charity of your choice.

Mrs. Priscilla S. Scheiner

April 10, 1925 - November 12, 2022