Obituary: Paula (Imbro) Schmitt, 78, Of Stratford

This obituary is from Pistey Funeral Home:

Paula (Imbro) Schmitt age 78 of Stratford passed away peacefully on April 10, 2023, in her home with family by her side.

Paula was born on January 19, 1945, to parents James Imbro and Pauline (Pavlik) Imbro at Bridgeport Hospital. After Paula graduated from Stratford High School class of 1963 she went on to enroll at Bridgeport Hospital School of Radiology.

After graduating as a Radiology Technologist, she was accepted into the Peace Corps where she was to spend 27 months in Tanzania, Africa. Unfortunately, her father passed away and her devotion to her mother made her decide to stay home and take care of her. Paula then started her career at Bridgeport Hospital where after proving her love for the field and going over and above the call of duty she advanced to become the first female Director of the School of Radiologic Technology and supervisor of the department. Her career sparkled even years later after seeing her past students running departments at Bridgeport hospital and crediting her for their success with her hands on training and teaching methods.

Paula had a wonderful zest for life and adventure. Her passion was power boating along the Connecticut River, Long Island Sound and Newport RI. She was a member of the Housatonic Boat Club in Stratford. Gardening and planting flowers around the house was another passion of hers, always supervising her husband Tom on what to prune and plant.

Paula played soft ball for the Holy Name of Jesus Church in the youth league and had quite an arm. In later years she joined the Stratford Baldwin Tappers Ensemble. She enjoyed learning new tap-dancing routines to perform at recitals. Paula loved music and dancing and was always a social butterfly.

Paula served as an officer in the Slovak Catholic Society Wreath 39 and was active in the Slovak Alliance, volunteering at many summer picnics. She loved working the candy booth and ice cream stand with then young son Stephen at her side.

She enjoyed travelling the world with her family and friends, having travelled extensively throughout Europe and many times to her favorite destination, Bermuda.

One of the ways she showed her devotion to her faith was as a Eucharistic Minister at her parish Holy Name of Jesus Church in Stratford for 17 years. The same church she attended since birth.
Special thanks to Dr. Eileen O’Reilly and the team at Memorial Sloan Cancer Center in New York for their loving care throughout her treatments.

She is survived by her loving husband, Thomas Schmitt and cherished son Stephen Schmitt and partner Shawn Leighton of Stratford; and several cherished cousins. Paula was predeceased by her father, James Imbro and her mother Pauline (Pavlic) Imbro of Stratford.

Friends are invited to attend the funeral on Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 9:15 am at the Pistey Funeral Home, 2155 Main Street, Stratford and at 10 am at Holy Name of Jesus Church with a Mass of Christian Burial. Interment at St. John Cemetery, Stratford. Friends may call on Wednesday from 4 to 7 pm. Memorial contributions may be made to www.giving.mskcc.org or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Office of Development PO Box 27106, NY, NY 10087. Please visit www.pisteyfuneralhome.com to express condolences.

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