Levant elementary renamed after late principal

LEVANT – Suzanne Smith never made it to a ceremony on Sunday afternoon during which the Levant Elementary School was renamed in her honor, but she knew before she died that the school would bear her name.

Smith, who worked at the school for more than 40 years as both a teacher and its principal, died Saturday from breast cancer at the age of 62.

Though typically modest and reluctant to accept the honor, Smith was grateful for the community’s gesture of appreciation in naming the school the Suzanne M. Smith Elementary School, Sandra Guyer, Smith’s sister, said Tuesday.

“She was very honored and very humbled by that,” Guyer said. “She felt like that was more than what she wanted.”

Smith also was touched recently by the presentation of a book written by her students, a compilation of the pupils’ words describing what they liked about their principal, Guyer said. Many wrote that Smith was kind and made them feel safe, she said.

One pupil wrote, “She was cool. She says ‘tellie’ instead of telephone,” Guyer said.

Providing an education to every student was her life’s work, though to Smith, education included the values of compassion and extending a hand to those who are struggling, her sister said.

“Education to her was more than what you learn in a book,” Guyer said.

Kathy McPhearson witnessed Smith’s compassion both as a student herself some years ago and now as a parent of a fourth-grader, who at first didn’t know what to make of his principal’s death.

“He said, ‘I can’t go to school anymore,'” she said Monday of her son, Jimmy McPhearson.

McPhearson helped to organize a benefit raffle for Smith scheduled for 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 23. The money from the event will be donated to a scholarship fund in Smith’s name, she said.

“No matter what, you always saw a smile on her face,” McPhearson said.

Smith spent her last days enjoying from her bed the sight of paintings by her friend and artist Brenda Ferguson of Dixmont, Guyer said. Ferguson recently painted a portrait of Smith, which the family hung by her bed.

“It gave her such peace,” she said.

Smith was looking forward to spending the summer with her sister checking off a list of the last things she wanted to do, Guyer said.

Among their plans were trips to friends’ camps and eating a chicken marsala pizza at Pizza Gourmet in Hampden.

“I’m going to do the list, and that will be her chance to do them,” Guyer said.

“We thought we had until fall to accomplish all these things,” she added later.

Smith felt the time was right for her to leave the school and was grateful to say goodbye to her fellow teachers and beloved students at a party last Friday, Guyer said.

“To her, every one of them was like her own child,” she said of Smith’s students. “They were her family.”