Alice Beatrice “Bea” Smith Desper

Alice Beatrice “Bea” Smith Desper (83) died on August 4, 2026, in Newark, Delaware.

Bea was born in Quincy, Massachusetts to John F. and Alice B. Meehan Smith. She graduated from Norwell High School before graduating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Tufts University School of Medicine. She dedicated her life to practicing as an obstetrician-gynecologist in Connecticut and Louisiana before retiring to Delaware.

Bea was previously married to C. Richard “Dick” Desper with whom she had five children: Elizabeth Gohr, John Desper, Beatrice Desper Banabila, Richard Desper and Scott Desper. She was also the proud grandmother of William Gohr. She was preceded in death by her parents, her first husband, Dick, and her stepson, Kenneth Jovin, Jr.

She is survived by her husband, Kenneth P. Jovin, her sisters Mary Ann Smith and Therese Smith, and her brother John W. M. Smith, her five children, her grandson, her nieces and nephews, and her stepson, Ron Jovin.

She enjoyed traveling, motorcycling, piloting her small plane and loving her cats and dogs.

Bea was very active in women’s medicine; she served as the president of the American Medical Women’s Association from 2009 to 2010.

Dr. Desper will be buried in Norwell, Massachusetts at a later date.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 840692, Dallas, TX 75284-0692 or online by clicking here; or the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 North Michigan Avenue, Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60601 or online by clicking here.