Submitted
Jon Michael Bellis
Jon Michael Bellis, age 62, of Woodbridge, Conn. and Killington, Vt., was tragically killed in an automobile accident in Killington on Friday, July 31, 2015. He was the beloved husband of Kathryn Barry Bellis for 37 years and the father of Christopher Barry Bellis and his wife Annabelle Lyons of Philadelphia, and daughter Erin Barry Bellis of Woodbridge, Conn. He also leaves his mother, Doris of Dana Point, Calif. He was predeceased by his father, Ted of Wantagh and Jewett, N.Y. Jon Bellis came from a large and loving family, including his brother Tedric of Larchmont, N.Y.; Brian of Wilmington, N.C.; and Robert of Dana Point, Calif.; his sister, Nancy of Chicago, Ill., and sister-law, Donna Bellis, wife of Tedric, N.Y. In addition, he leaves his Fleischman cousins with whom he grew up on Jones Beach, along with his Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Larry and so many nieces and nephews, too many to name, as well as a generation of Amity High School graduates who grew up in his hometown in Woodbridge and learned how to ski in Killington. All will miss Jon Bellis very much.
At the time of his death, Bellis was employed by Yale-New Haven Hospital as a therapist in the outpatient psychiatry department. He was also a therapist with Atlantic Health Services. He enjoyed a long career in mental health services, which included staff positions with the Yale Psychiatric Clinic, Clifford Beers Clinic, Norwalk Hospital, Saint Vincent’s Hospital, the Behavioral Health Services at MidState Medical Center, and the Hospital of Saint Raphael.
Before pursuing a career in mental health, Bellis played professional soccer with the Boston Minutemen and was a teacher at the Hopkins School in New Haven. He was a graduate of Yale University, Class of 1974, where he excelled on the soccer field and basketball court. He received his masters in social work from the Smith School of Social Work in 1984.
Jon, Mr. Bellis, JB, Jack, and Dad, will be missed by so many people. It is important that they all know he did not suffer on Friday night under a blue moon in a grassy field in Vermont. He passed immediately upon impact.
He was a devout lifelong Episcopalian and practiced his faith at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Orange. A memorial service with Holy Eucharist was held to celebrate Jon Bellis’s life on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015 at 11 a.m. at the Church of the Good Shepherd, in Orange, Conn. A reception in the true spirit of community followed under a tent on the side lawn. Guests were encouraged to wear shorts and a T-shirt, such as a Yale, Hopkins, CGS and/or Patriot T-shirt, or if a golfer, their favorite golf outfit. Ties and jackets were expressly prohibited.
Bellis’s 63rd birthday would have been Sunday, Aug. 9.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to a charity of your choice, the Church of the Good Shepherd Youth Ministry, or the Yale Athletic department.
