Isla Marie Smith

On Saturday, October 23, 2021, just after sunrise, six month old Isla Marie Smith “Isla Bug” passed away in her parents’ arms at home, the Blue Pod of RNICU at UAB Hospital. She was born on March 31st at UAB Hospital.

Preceding Isla in death are her great grandparents, Raymond Smith; Mary Smith; Ernest Floyd; Mary Floyd; Fred Leopard; Mae Leopard; and Sarah Sumner.

Left to cherish her memory is her loving parents, Jake Russell Smith “Daddy” and Hannah Leopard Smith “Mama”; her grandparents, William Smith, Elizabeth Smith, Paul Leopard, and Karen Leopard; her great-grandparents, Donald Holder, Judy Holder, and Randy Sumner; her aunts and uncles, Jennifer Manning, Davis Manning, Anna Manning, Holly Marie Smith, Alex Leopard, and Isla Brook Smith; her Godparents, Ben and Marybeth Brinkerhoff; her cousins, Davis Burns Manning, Molly Kate Manning, and “Nugget” Brinkerhoff. She is also survived by her puppy dog, Wesson “Wessie” and her RNICU “nurse aunties”, and her friend Zoe.

While her time on earth was short, she lived a full life. She enjoyed reading Nancy Drew, listening to Taylor Swift songs, sitting on her “front porch” while yelling at her neighbors, taking bubble baths, getting massages and head scratches, NOT wearing a hat, reclining in her boppy, bossing her nurses around, bouncing for hours on end, talking to her woodland friends (Stella, Penny, and Harold, aka “Bearold”), taking walks in the courtyard, playing with her toys on the floor, sitting in her bumbo to watch the ball game, hugging her Teddy, snuggling with her mom & dad, and sitting in the sun. She had a keen sense of fashion and was awarded Best Dressed Baby in the NICU.

A celebration of Isla’s life will be held at Ridout’s Southern Heritage Funeral Home on Monday, November 1, 2021, at 2:00 pm with a visitation beginning at 12:00 pm. An inurnment will follow at Southern Heritage Cemetery. For those not able to attend in person, please join us via livestream at the following link https://youtu.be/HOkRnzpt59M

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the March of Dimes and the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Alabama in Isla’s memory.

The family would like to extend a warm thank you to the entirety of UAB Hospital’s RNICU staff – nurses, nurse practitioners, doctors, respiratory therapists, physical and occupational therapists, patient care techs, unit secretaries, music therapists, and family liaisons. And also to the Ronald McDonald House for giving her parents a place to stay where they could be close to Isla.

To our bright, beautiful sunflower girl-

You belong among the wildflowers.

You belong somewhere close to me.

Far away from your trouble and worries,

You belong somewhere you feel free.