Melinda Smith Partridge

Melinda Smith Partridge, most recently of Walpole, Massachusetts, passed away from complications following surgery on May 31, 2026, at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Born in Hartford, Connecticut on June 3, 1948, she was the daughter of Edward and Faye (Wadhams) Smith, and was raised in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

Melinda, Linnie to her family and Linda to many friends, graduated from The Chaffee School in 1966 and Lasell College in 1968. A caring and empathetic person, she made many dear friends in both high school and college, some of whom have remained close ever since. She especially enjoyed spending time with her friends from Lasell, and was happy to have spent a long weekend with them in April. She had planned to attend her 60th Chaffee reunion on June 6.

A capable and detail-oriented administrator, she was employed in several industries over her career, including insurance, higher education, and healthcare. In every role, she forged close bonds with her colleagues and kept in touch with many long after she moved on to other work.

She married her husband Gary Partridge in 1974, and their twin sons, Evan and Tyler, were born in 1978. The family lived in Westfield, Massachusetts for the majority of the boys' upbringing, and later Melinda and Gary moved to Spotsylvania, Virginia for several years, where she battled and beat breast cancer. Not too long after, they moved to Connecticut in support of Melinda's mother's health, caring for her until she died (at 100) in 2017. They then moved to Michigan to spend some time near their son's growing family, and later moved back to Massachusetts due to Gary's declining health.

After Gary's death in 2023, Melinda reconnected with an old friend, Walter Gormley of Walpole, Massachusetts, with whom she enjoyed both bigger occasions, such as travels abroad, as well as smaller, more quiet moments at home.

She leaves her sons Evan and Tyler Partridge, as well as Evan’s wife Kristi and their children Mason, Addison and Landon. Predeceased by her husband Gary, she is survived by her brother Ned, twin sister Melissa Hubbard, and cousins Wendy and Sam Wolcott, with whom she grew up. She is also survived by cousins Susie Terva, Lee and Jo Foster, and Nancy Smith-Hogan, as well as Susie Hine, a friend who joined the family when she and Melinda were 13, and Walter Gormley, welcomed into the family as her partner in more recent years.

A Memorial Service will be held in the Bloomfield Congregational Church, 10 Wintonbury Avenue, BLOOMFIELD, CT. on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 at 1pm. Arrangements are in the care of Gillooly Funeral Home, 126 Walpole Street, Norwood.

In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made in Melinda's memory to either the American Cancer Society, https://www.cancer.org or your local food pantry.