Winifred Smith Livengood

Winifred S. Livengood, 91, died suddenly on December 22nd at Morristown Memorial Hospital of a heart attack. Her long life was marked by passion for home health nursing, expertise in volunteer leadership, and devotion to family and church. Her optimism and enthusiasm inspired all kinds of people to support her causes. The Service of Remembrance will begin at 11:00 AM Saturday December 31, 2011, in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Westfield. Arrangements by Gray Funeral Directors, Westfield. Born Winifred Wrightson Smith in Elizabeth in 1920, Mrs. Livengood graduated from the Vail-Deane School and Wellesley College. During World War II, she served in the Office of Naval Intelligence in New York City before marrying Hugh Livengood, also of Elizabeth. Mrs. Livengood volunteered with both the Junior League and the Visiting Nurse Association. She ultimately served as board president for both organizations, and she served on the board of the Union County Psychiatric Clinic. She became the first executive director of the Home Health Agency Assembly of New Jersey in 1973. In the eleven years she held that position, she served on the boards of nine related organizations. As a Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing, she taught Community Health Nursing to master's degree candidates. In 1984, Senator Bill Bradley named her one of eight "Unsung New Jersey Women" for her work in protection of the elderly. In 1989, Governor Thomas Kean appointed her to the state's Commission on Environmental Education, and in 1993 the Center for Home Health Development honored her for her Outstanding Contribution to Home Health in New Jersey. In addition to raising three children, Mrs. Livengood was also an active member of the Episcopal Church, first at St. John's in Elizabeth and later at St. Paul's in Westfield, where her husband served as a priest. She took on a leadership role at the diocesan level, serving on the boards of the Episcopal Church Women, the Diocesan Foundation, and the Commission on Ministry. In Westfield, she served on the board of the Westfield Community Foundation and directed local fundraising campaigns to support the Wellesley Alumnae Association. At Christ Union Chapel on Culver Lake in Sussex County, she was a member of the governing board. In 1996, the Livengoods moved to Fellowship Village in Basking Ridge, where Mrs. Livengood established the medical service and the hospitality committees. She developed a protocol that allowed several denominations to provide religious services to residents, and she was the first resident elected to the Board of Directors of Fellowship Village. She served as Vice-President of ORANJ (Organization of Resident Associations of New Jersey), and in this role, she secured the adoption of legislation requiring that continuing care retirement communities include residents on their boards of directors. Her family will miss their imaginative and loving matriarch. She is survived by sons Horace R. Livengood II (Geraldine) and John C. Livengood (Caren Yglesias), daughter Rebecca A. Livengood (Walter F. Rogers III); and seven grandchildren: Charlotte (Richard Serton) and Walter (Elizabeth) Rogers, Rebecca and James Livengood, and Ian, Hugh, and Magenta Livengood, and one great-grandchild. The Rev. Hugh Livengood died in 2002.