Obituary: Longtime Branford School Teacher Passes At Age 81

BRANFORD, CT - Wendy-Kimberley (LaBrie) Field, 81, died Sunday, December 15 at Connecticut Hospice. She was born December 2, 1938 in Fall River, Mass., a daughter of Mitchell J. and Florence A. (Labouliere) LaBrie.

In 1948 the family relocated to Winsted, Conn. Wendy often spoke of the childhood joy she felt swimming in the lake in the summer and ice skating in the winter. In 1953 the family moved to Branford where Wendy made a deep connection with the ocean.

She graduated from Branford High School in 1956 and, after briefly studying to be a nurse, changed her focus to teaching. She held two master’s degrees, one in literature and the other in biology. She adored her students and taught for several years at St. Mary School before settling as a sixth-grade English language arts teacher at Branford Intermediate School, where she taught for 32 years.

She married Wayne E. Bigelow in 1964. They divorced in 1983 and Wendy changed her last name from Bigelow to Field, her grandmother’s name.

Wendy had a passionate love of learning, literature, art, music, history, nature, and animals. She was a gifted watercolor artist and writer and her home by the sea in Branford Point was filled with her artwork, bookcases teaming with books and her journals, many treasures, thriving plants, and always a cat or two sleeping on a wicker chair. In her home, windows were typically wide open to let the ocean breeze in, even on a chilly day, with classical music playing, and clocks never set at the right time.