Death Announced of Jennifer Griswold Hillhouse of Old Lyme—’A Community Treasure,’ Two-Time ‘OL Citizen of the Year’

Celebration of Life to be held Monday, Aug. 25, 2 p.m., at First Congregational Church of Old Lyme

OLD LYME—Jennifer Griswold Hillhouse died in her sleep at home in Old Lyme, Connecticut, on June 7, 2025. She was 92.

Jennifer was the daughter of Dr. Matthew and Charlotte Griswold. She was born in New Haven, Connecticut on March 18, 1933, and grew up in New Haven, where her father was an attending physician at Yale University.

She attended the Foote School in New Haven through eighth grade and graduated from the Madeira School in Virginia in 1950. She attended Smith College in Massachusetts until her marriage to Frank W. Smith, a Marine Corps officer and Yale graduate (1950) in 1953. The marriage ended in divorce three years later.

Through mutual friends, she met Dr. Theodore R. Hillhouse (Ted), a widower dentist. He had three sons from his first marriage; she had two daughters from hers. They wed in 1959, and Ted and his boys moved to Jennifer’s home in Old Lyme. Within three years, there were two more boys, raising the number of children to seven, in a classic yours-mine-ours family with the ensuing chaos.

With the family growing up, she acted on a longtime desire to work in health care when she enrolled at Mitchell College, a private college in New London, to study nursing. She received a registered nurse degree in 1978 and was immediately hired at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital in New London. A family emergency caused her to resign from the hospital earlier than expected, but she carried her skill set to Old Lyme’s South End Ambulance Association, where she volunteered, as an EMT and later as a driver, for many years. Her nursing skills and care were also put to use at Red Cross community blood drives (to which she donated 18 gallons of her own in her lifetime).

Jennifer was a community treasure. Following the example of her father, she worked tirelessly to serve and improve the community. She was named Old Lyme Citizen of the Year the first time, in 1970, for creating a town recycling program. She was Citizen of the Year again in 1989, this time for a “lifetime of service to our community that will stand as a beacon of leadership through personal sacrifice and example.”

Her wide-ranging environmental and related interests included natural scenic and historical land conservation, through what is now the Old Lyme Land Trust, and osprey restoration and raptor migration tracking. She also volunteered at the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library and BookCellar, the Old Lyme Historical Society, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, and the New London Maritime Society and Customs House. She was a stalwart supporter of animal welfare programs such as Forgotten Felines (for a time, she had 24 adopted cats).

Jennifer was predeceased by her husband, Ted Hillhouse. Survivors include her brother Matthew Griswold; her children, Helen H. Townsend (husband Rhys Townsend), Margaret Hillhouse (husband Steve Patterson), Matthew G. Hillhouse, and Michael C. Hillhouse (wife Aretha Matthis); stepchildren Kenneth N. Hillhouse, Richard J. Hillhouse (wife Virginia) and James W. Hillhouse (wife Starr, deceased April 2025); six grandchildren and step-grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Memorial donations may be made to the Old Lyme Land Trust (PO Box 163, Old Lyme, CT 06371) or the Old Lyme Historical Society Inc. (PO Box 352, Old Lyme, CT 06371).

A celebration of life will be held on Monday, August 25, 2025 at 2 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme. A reception will follow at the community meeting room behind the church.

The family would like to thank Hospice for care provided for the last five months.