Alice Smith, Longtime Resident of Sag Harbor and East Hampton, Dies February 17

Alice Smith, longtime resident of East Hampton and Sag Harbor, died at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care on February 17, 2019. She was 78.

Born Mary Alice Hugie on September 19, 1940, in Walterboro, South Carolina, Ms. Smith was the second child of Albert Hugie Sr. and Evelyna H. Geiger. She attended Walterboro High School.

She relocated to Long Island in the mid-1950s. While training as a nursing aide at Southampton Hospital, she worked for Grammy Award-winning folk-singer/songwriter Tom Paxton and his wife, Midge, caring for their daughters, Jennifer and Kate; she also worked for actress Bea Arthur. She provided compassionate home care for a number of East End residents, including John and Judith Lane Rand, and Irving and Christine Goddard.

In 1996, she began working for Stephen Hamilton and Emma Walton Hamilton, founders of Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, assisting in the care of their children, Sam and Hope. She remained with the family for 20 years.

Ms. Smith was a devoted church mother of the First Church of God in Christ in Bridgehampton. She and her family members helped construct the church as it is today, and she regularly taught Sunday School there. Whether known as “Mother Smith,” “Sister Alice,” “Nana,” or “Ahwee,” she was beloved by all who knew her, and will be remembered for her singular smile, as well as her remarkable strength, generosity and humor, survivors said.

Ms. Smith was mother to two sons, James Jenkins and Nathaniel Smith, both of whom pre-deceased her, as did her brother, Hezekiah Hugie. She is survived by her siblings, Herman Hugie, Gloria Jerido, and Albert Hugie Jr., as well as half-brother, Herman Lee; grandchildren Leshawne Rumph, Javonda Lamison, Eboni Smith and Nathaniel Smith; great-grandchildren Steven, Shawn and Schyler Thompson, Taylor Lamison, Edward Wyche Jr., Daja Scarlato, and Natalie and Kemilia Smith; and new great-great-grandchild, Noah Lion Wintjen;, along with countless nieces, nephews and cousins.

Viewing is at the First Church of God in Christ on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike in Bridgehampton at on Saturday, February 23, at 11 a.m., with a funeral service to begin at noon.

Memorial donations may be made to the First Church of God in Christ in Bridgehampton.