- Date Of Birth: September 10, 1939
- Date Of Death: May 12, 2015
- State: New Jersey
Rose Lee Smith Chadwick Island, Toms River, New Jersey Rose Lee Smith (nee Kuey) passed away at the age of seventy-five after an extended illness at home in Jupiter, Florida on May 12, 2015. Rose was born in Huntington, Long Island, NY on September 10, 1939. She was the daughter of Leung Ben Kuey, a Chinese immigrant, and Dominica Irene Capalbo of English, Irish and Italian heritage. Both parents predeceased her in the 1970s.
The family moved to Englishtown, NJ in 1946 where her father raised Chinese produce for distribution to markets in cities throughout the Northeast. Winters were spent in rural Florida until Rose began high school. When not in Florida, Rose attended grade and middle schools in Englishtown, NJ, and was a 1958 graduate of Freehold Regional High School. She graduated from Douglass College, Rutgers University in 1962 with a degree in Education and married Robert S. Smith ten days later. She taught high school Spanish for two years before leaving to raise a family. Her sons Richard and Peter were born and raised while the family lived in Cranford, New Jersey. In the 1970s when her sons were in school Rose returned to teaching as a substitute and later worked as a girls’ field hockey official and as a lifeguard at the town’s indoor pool. During that time she developed a passion for tennis and became an accomplished club player. In 1983 Rose and her husband moved to Paris, France where she thrived while learning French and taking advantage of many cultural and travel opportunities. They moved to Wilmington, Delaware in 1985 where she resumed a busy schedule playing tennis and serving as team captain and league president. For five years she enjoyed coaching a local high school tennis team.
After her husband’s retirement in 1997, they moved to the Chadwick Island section of Toms River, New Jersey where they had maintained a summer home for twenty-five years and began spending the winter months in Jupiter, Florida.
In addition to her parents, Rose was predeceased by an infant sister Jeanne Lee Kuey in 1946. Besides her husband of fifty-three years, Rose is survived by her son Richard C. Smith, his wife Shawn and their daughter Trisha and son Owen of Souderton, PA and her son Peter S. Smith, his wife Heidi of Riverton, NJ, and their daughter Samantha of Philadelphia, PA.
She is also survived by three brothers: Natale Lee Kuey, Leon B. Kuey, and George Lee Kuey, and a sister Geraldine Lee Kuey Hayden, and numerous nieces and nephews.
