Jacqueline Fern Conrath, aged 86, died peacefully of natural causes on October 3, 2018. Her family was with her at the time. Jackie lived in Princeton for almost 48 years, from 1966 to 2013. She and her husband left in 2013 to live in an assisted living facility in Westford, Massachusetts, to be near her elder daughter.
Jackie was born in Dupree, South Dakota, and grew up in Portland and Pendleton, Oregon. She moved first to Chicago and then to the northeast coast in the 1950s. She was educated at the University of Oregon (B.S.), Bryn Mawr College (M.S.S.), and Rutgers University (Ph.D., Anthropology). At different periods of her life, she worked as social worker, a psychotherapist, and an independent scholar in anthropology.
Jackie was remarkable for her interest in other cultures and places, her adventurous travel, her empathy for the intricacy of other people’s lives, and her profound love for her family. She wrote copiously—letters, journals, poetry, scholarly articles. She travelled widely often by herself, to places such as India, Burma, Nepal, Pakistan, and New Mexico, and lived in India and Italy. She loved many things: the woods she lived in; swimming in natural bodies of water; especially the Hopewell quarry; animals, wild and tame; all kinds of weather; and books, and movies.
Jackie was married for almost 53 years to Dennis Wrong, a sociologist; he died five weeks after she did. She is survived by two daughters from her first marriage to Surinder Mehta (Jaya Mehta, son-in-law Sunand Bhattacharya, and grandchildren Ishan and Ila; Sheila Mehta, son-in-law Michael Squillacote, and grandchildren Anna and Nicholas), and a stepson (Terence Wrong, daughter-in-law Marisa Guthrie, and step-grandchildren Edward –by a previous marriage –and Olivia). She is also survived by nephews Paul and Mike Conrath, and niece Denise Fortin.
Jackie was much loved and is keenly missed.