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Colleen Stratton

A woman of many talents and lifelong accomplishments, Colleen Elizabeth Gouveia Stratton, died Sunday evening, June 9, 2024, after a long illness in Madison. She was a resident of Guilford for 20 years with her husband, Barry M. Stratton. They had earlier made their homes in San Francisco and Montara, California.

Colleen was born in Georgetown, Guyana, South America, in 1952 to the late Carlton Everton Gouveia and Marie Agatha Gouveia. Colleen was the seventh of 10 siblings: Trixie Glasgow, Evelyn (Osbert) Applewhaite, Greta (Brian) Jones, Bridget (Nigel) Jackman, Peggy Persaud, Maxwell (Inez) Gouveia, and Aubrey Gouveia. She was preceded in death by two older sisters, Joycelyn Taylor and Patricia Gobin.

Colleen attended The Bishops’ High School, one of Guyana’s leading girls’ schools, to begin her formative high school education. She excelled in mathematics and classics and was distinguished for orchestral music (which she continued long after high school), as well as singing. Over the years, she became an accomplished singer, pianist, violinist and cellist.

After graduating from Bishops’, Colleen was employed by the Royal Bank of Canada in Georgetown, Guyana, where she worked for many years, eventually moving into prime responsibility for international banking. She immigrated to the United States to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C., there obtaining a bachelor of business administration degree magna cum laude. She then moved to San Francisco to attend graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, from which she graduated with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and worked at Wells Fargo, followed by several years at Hewlett-Packard in the International Business and Finance Division. While in San Francisco, in 1995, Colleen met and married the love of her life, Barry Stratton, an IBM software engineer originally from New Haven. Together, they began another chapter of her life, traveling extensively and enjoying skiing, swimming, tennis, snorkeling, and camping.

After many years in San Francisco, they moved to Guilford, near Barry’s hometown of New Haven, where she started her own consulting business and continued her very busy life doing the things they both loved and enjoyed. She joined the Shoreline Chorale in Guilford and later Con Brio and performed there for many years. She also enjoyed singing in the chorus with the Opera Theater of Connecticut for many productions. As a friend to many, Colleen was a loyal and supportive advisor to old and new friends, of whom she was very proud.

Colleen leaves to mourn her passing her devoted and loving husband, Barry; her siblings, nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, adult stepchildren, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, and other relatives, including numerous cousins. She was very appreciative of her many friends, who frequently inquired about her well-being. A woman of quiet achievement, beauty, grace, and wit, Colleen will be dearly missed!

Services will be held at the WS Clancy Memorial Funeral Home, 244 North Main Street, Branford, with a visitation from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, July 26, with a service starting at 1 p.m. The family would like to thank the staff of MasonicCare in Wallingford and Autumn Lake Healthcare in Madison for Colleen’s care.