Eileen Smith, age 93, of New York and previously Canton, Ohio passed away on June 15, 2025. She was born in Canton to the late Loy and Gertrude (Ellis) Burfield. Always committed to family, she turned down a music scholarship to stay close to home, instead earning a bachelor's degree from Kent State University and two master's degrees from the University of Akron. Her love of music continued and for decades she enjoyed playing her studio grand piano in her home. She was a member of Professional Fraternities in Education, Phi Lambda Theta and Phi Delta Kappa. She spent her 39-year career as a teacher and reading consultant with Canton City Schools. She and her late husband Jack built a life together in North Canton, Ohio in the home Jack designed and constructed, spending many weekends and summers boating on Lake Erie and the Portage Lakes. Before Jack's death in 2006, they celebrated 49 years of marriage. She moved to New York in 2023, opening a new chapter that allowed her to spend her final years closer to her immediate family.

Eileen was a devout Christian and had been an active member of the North Canton Community Christian Church, where she served as an elder and enjoyed singing in the church choir. She was proud to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was also proud of her Native American heritage as she was one eighth Shawnee Indian.

She served alongside her husband as Coast Guard Auxiliary on Lake Erie as charter members under the Department of Homeland Security. She also served as a docent at the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum and was active with her garden club. She shared her curiosity and love of history and learning with her daughter and granddaughters, was proud of their academic and career achievements, and never tired of intellectual discussions on current events. She was impeccably well-dressed, from her days as a classroom teacher through her administrative career (when her timeless fashion sense was featured in a local newspaper article) to her final years in assisted living where aides remarked on her carefully coordinated outfits. She had a knack for making friends wherever she went and will be deeply missed.

Eileen is preceded in death by her husband, Jack Smith, her brother and sister-in-law Leon (Bud) and Betty Burfield, brother and sister-in-law Alan and Betty Smith, brother-in-law Dr. Homer I. Keck and nieces Cynthia Keck-McNulty and Linda Wade. She is survived by her sister Missy Keck, daughter Melanie Michelle Goodwin and her fiancée Christopher Barone of New York, and two granddaughters: Nicole Bliss and husband Kellin of New York and Jacqueline Schlotterbeck and husband Isaac of Maine, as well as nieces and nephews.

Calling hours will be 12:30 to 1:30pm and funeral services will be at 1:30pm on Friday, June 20, at the Arnold Funeral Home at 1517 Market Ave N., Canton, Ohio. Her final resting place will be Canton's North Lawn Cemetery, next to her husband.