Following is the obituary for JACQUELINE PRESSEY HENEAGE, submitted by the family.

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Jacqueline Pressey Heneage, a former first selectman of Westport and the first woman elected as the town’s chief executive, died in Sedona, Ariz., on Oct. 3, 2021. 

She was born Sept. 19, 1925, and raised in Hanover, N.H., the daughter of Dartmouth College professor William Benfield Pressey and Elisabeth Sheerin Pressey, a musician.  

She attended Wellesley College and graduated from University of New Hampshire with a BS in zoology. She graduated from the Mayo Clinic Physical Therapy School in 1949 and two weeks later married Peter Heneage. She practiced physical therapy off and on while raising three children.

Membership in the  Westport League of Women Voters led to Jackie’s great interest in government. She was involved in the creation of Westport’s first historic district and instrumental in preventing the commercial development of Winslow Park. 

After her first successful campaign for the Zoning Board of Appeals, she was persuaded by the Democratic Party to run for first selectman in 1973. Much to the surprise of both parties she won the office and became the first female first selectman and the first Democrat in 25 years. She was re-elected twice for a total of three terms, holding office from 1973-1981.

Among her accomplishments as first selectman were the first senior housing project, elderly tax relief, creation of a senior center and a youth center, a new town garage and central fire station, a regional solid waste contract and transfer station, the restoration of the Longshore Clubhouse, the establishment of a new personnel department and a grantsman position leading to over $9 million in federal and state grants to the town. 

She liked to joke that her most popular project was to build the first dog pound for a cost of $22,000, but perhaps, it was the conversion of Bedford Elementary School to the present Town Hall, with a combined arts center and community theater.

She felt very strongly about open space and acquired several parks along the Saugatuck River and doubled the size of Burying Hill Beach.

In 1981, she and her Selectman Theodore Diamond, chose not to run for a fourth term in office. Later employed by GTE in the corporate real estate department, she also became a real estate agent. 

Lured back into government she became the director of the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority from 1985-1991 and helped establish an integrated solid-waste management system for 15 towns in northwest Connecticut.

Jackie retired in 1992, but in 1994 she was recruited by the International Executive Service Corps to go to Tartu, Estonia, to consult on their solid-waste management problems. 

In 1999, Jackie and her husband Peter sought and found “affordable water views” and moved to the Black Rock area of Bridgeport. She remained active in many organizations in Bridgeport and Westport until her move to Arizona in 2018.

Jackie Heneage is survived by her three daughters, Elisabeth Heneage of Tucson, Ariz., Audrey Heneage of Fort Myers, Fla., and Cynthia Heneage (Kenneth Borchardt) of Sedona, Ariz.; three grandchildren, Sarah Jacobs (Clinton) of Fort Myers, Fla., Warren Mantz (Brooke) of Black Rock, Conn., and Theodore Mantz of Brooklyn, N.Y., and five great-grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her husband Peter, her sister Suzanne Pressey and her two brothers, James C. Pressey and William Pressey.

Burial and services will be held in Hanover, N.H., at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in Jackie’s memory may be made to: Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition, Greater Bridgeport Symphony and Aspetuck Land Trust.