Cecilia "Cil" Smith Cason

Cecilia “Cil” Smith Cason’s story reads like a novel. Love, gratitude, resourcefulness, accomplishments, grief…and family. It’s a story that moves those who appreciate the insights and the fulfillment in living a life of faith, service and hard work, nurtured by one’s commitment to the true sharing of life with the people you love.

Cil, or “Nana” as she was lovingly called by her many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, passed away on Friday, October 11, 2024. She was 82 years of age and joined her husband, Ronnie, in Heaven almost one year exactly after his death.

Cil was born on July 6, 1942, in Norfolk, Virginia. She was the youngest of her six siblings. Her father, Gilbert Wesley Smith, and her mother, Mary Boyce, were hardworking, simple-living people who focused on their children. Cil’s foundational memories included walking on dirt floors in her home and watching her family work very hard to save, so that they could buy the property off Virginia Beach Boulevard. This foundation contributed to the development of a personal character marked by grace and generosity. In turn, this character evolved into the glue that held her own family together through the following decades. Cil returned to the property in Virginia Beach, which the family called “Smith Village” or “The Compound,” early in her adult life to raise her children, and it is where she took her dying breaths surrounded by her loved ones.

Before she met the love of her life, Cil spent most of her time with her immediate family, especially her sisters and brother, Mary Elizabeth, Gilbert, Pauline, Barbara, Helen; her niece who she considered a sister, Mary Louise; her cousins, Ruth and Beatrice; and her best friend, Joyce. Cil, a member of the class of 1957 from Princess Anne High School, began a retail career, taking a different bus home after school to work at Roses. It’s likely no coincidence that a girl who grew up with little to spare on luxuries ended up as Assistant Manager at Smith and Welton’s Hilltop.

Cil met Ronald “Ronnie” Rue Cason when she was 15 and he was 17 years old. She asked Ronnie to dance and he accepted thinking he was going to give this pretty little girl a thrill, and boy, did he get the surprise of a lifetime! To know Cil was to instantly fall in love with her. Predictably, Ronnie fell hard and fast for this beautiful, sweet and loving young woman. He called her “Ciya.” Ronnie and his Ciya were married for more than 63 years.

Cil gave birth to Tamela (“Tammy”) when she was 18 years old and added three more daughters – Veronica, Crystal and Allie – before she was 26 years old. Ronnie and Cil worked hard to provide and gave equal attention to modeling the importance of living life to the fullest, together, as a family. Even in times of financial hardship, Cil leveraged her retail career to ensure her daughters were always dressed to the nines so they could feel worthy of beauty and abundance.

When she wasn’t at work, Cil loved taking her family to the beach and relaxing at home. Dressed in matching fluorescent bathing suits so she couldn’t lose 4 energetic girls, Cil would use baby powder to get the sand off and change the girls into clean, dry clothes, only to drive them home in her wet, sandy bathing suit. Countless similar memories are emblematic of the selfless, generous, loving and empathetic spirit that drew a wide variety of people to her. In spite of being introverted, her family and friends remember her as being always sweet and always kind. She was compassionate and had a nurturing, mothering spirit that made everyone feel seen and everyone feel loved. She was connected in ways she didn’t fully understand and grew into her superpowers over time.

Never seeking to be the center of attention and always graciously deferring to her larger-than-life husband, Cil ironically became the center of her families universe during her final years. Dementia slowly took over her mind and eventually her body. The silver lining for her family was the series of hilarious one liners she’d utter after a lifetime of holding her tongue and rarely articulating what she herself wanted or desired. Pepsi and ice cream were a few of her guilty pleasures but mostly all she wanted to do was whatever Ronnie and her family wanted to do. Her love was extraordinary and will remain far beyond her physical presence.

Cecilia was predeceased by her parents, Gilbert and Mary Smith, her brother Gilbert, sisters Mary Elizabeth, Pauline, Barbara, Helen, Mary Louise and her devoted husband Ronnie Cason. She leaves behind her loving children Tammy Adams (Ron), Veronica Cason, Crystal Cason and Allie Hall (Jimmy), and brother David “Buzzy” Cason. Cecilia is also survived by nine grandchildren, Chelsea Olivieri, Allen Key, Skylar Barfield, Justin Key, Connor Hall, Cameron Fletcher, Spencer Hall, Mary Hall and Hannah Adams, and eight great-grandchildren.

A visitation for Cecilia Cason will be held on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 from 5 pm to 7 pm and her service will be held on Thursday, October 17, 2024 at 2 pm. Both held at the Rosewood-Kellum Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Alzheimer’s Association in honor of her memory.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.kellumfuneralhome.com for the Cason family.