Diana Burt Smith, 43, Was Executive Secretary

Diana Burt Smith of Boston died August 19 after a valiant battle with cancer. She was 43 years old.

Diana, the daughter of Henry O. and Helen B. Burt, was born on Feb. 22, 1963, and raised in Vineyard Haven. She attended the Tisbury School and was graduated from the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School in 1981. While a junior in high school she attended Barbazon School of Modeling every weekend for several months, graduating the course as one of the school's youngest girls at that time. Upon her graduation from high school she enrolled and graduated from the Kathryn Gibbs Business Schools business administration course. She was one of the first two girls to start a new program of student exchange with one of England's top business schools in London. She was there until September when she graduated and earned her associate's degree in business administration.

Diana really enjoyed sports while in high school. She played basketball as a junior and senior, and while a senior she played in the state championships and helped the team win the championship that year. She will be remembered best for her four years on the track team where she set records running, one of which stood for many years and may still stand. Diana was an honor student at Kathryn Gibbs but really missed not having a track program there. She began her business career as a legal secretary at a Boston law firm, and after about a year and a half she began employment with the investment firm of Fidelity Investments as a receptionist. She rose to become executive secretary to the senior vice president, a position she held for the past several years. She really enjoyed her work and the association with the company.

In August of 2000 she married a longtime acquaintance, Shawn Ross Smith of Falmouth. In May 2002 she gave birth to Ross Stevenson Smith. Ross and Shawn were truly the objects of her devotion in her last years. She was a huge Patriots fan, going on her first date with Shawn to a Patriots football game and every year since then she had season tickets to the games.

She is survived by her son, Ross Stevenson Smith; her husband, Shawn Ross Smith; her father and mother, Henry O. and Helen B. Burt; her brother Stephen A. Burt and his wife, Brenda, and their children, Ryan and Shannon; and her birth-family, her father Donald Blake, her brothers, Peter, Christopher and Andrew, and her sister, Sandra.

Calling hours will be at the Chapman Cole & Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs on Wednesday, August 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. Her funeral service will be held in the First Baptist Church on Spring street in Vineyard Haven on Thursday, August 24, at 11 a.m. Interment will follow in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Vineyard Haven.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to First Baptist Church Building Fund, P.O. 806, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568; to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 10 Brookline Place West, 6th Floor, Brookline, MA 02445, or to the charity of one's choice.

Arrangements are under the care of Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs. Visit ccgfuneralhome.com for more information and an online guest book.