Perryville, NJ - Georgia Merwin (Smith) Bartok, 82, passed away peacefully on Thursday, October 8, 2015 at Memory Care Living in Chester Township, NJ with loving family by her side. Born in Los Angeles, CA, daughter of the late George Arthur and Gladys Merwin Smith, Georgia grew up in Greensboro, NC.

Georgia attended Duke University, then moved to New York City where she worked initially at the New York Stock Exchange, and later became a stewardess with American Airlines where she met her husband Lewis, a captain with the airline. They would soon marry and settle on a farm in Jutland/Perryville where she and Lewis made a home for their family. She was an avid gardener and cultivator of heirloom tomato seeds know locally as the "Bartok" while the Rutgers Cooperative calls it the "Jutland". Georgia and Lew's loving hearts welcomed numerous foster children into their home and also hosted the YMCA Backyard Swim Program for many years, for which they were later honored by the YMCA of Hunterdon County. She was the first woman to be appointed to the Union Township Board of Adjustment. Georgia was also a member of the Friends of the Red Mill and a longtime supporter of the Raritan River Music, the Hunterdon Art Museum, and the South Branch Watershed Association.

Besides her parents, Georgia was predeceased by her beloved husband of 35 years, Lewis M. Bartok on October 7, 1991, her companion of later years, Carl Heitzman and her sister, Joan James of Cape Town, South Africa.

Georgia is survived by two loving daughters, Susan Elizabeth and her husband William M. Hyland Jr. of Readington Township, NJ and Louisa Merwin Bartok and her husband Paul Graebener of Washington, NJ. She will be deeply missed by her dear brother, George Southern and his wife Dorie; five cherished grandchildren, Patrick M. Hyland, Marika Bartok Hyland, Katie E. Hyland, Julie M. Hyland, and Daniel Lewis Hyland; and many precious nieces and nephews including her grandniece namesake, Georgia Grace Williams.

A Celebration of Georgia's Life will take place on Sunday, December 27 from 4-7 p.m. at the Hunterdon Art Museum, 7 Lower Center Street, Clinton, NJ 08809. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Countryside Funeral Home, 724 Route 202 North, Three Bridges, NJ 08887. Memorial contributions may be made in Georgia's name to Raritan River Music, PO Box 454, Oldwick, NJ 08858 or Friends of the Red Mill, 56 Main Street, Clinton, NJ 08809.