After bravely fighting and surviving breast cancer for 12 years, Kelly Smith Reed passed away on Tuesday, May 21 due to complications brought on by leukemia. She was born on January 6, 1959 in Mount Pleasant, Texas to Edwin and Shirley Smith who preceded her in death. She was beautiful inside and out, with an external beauty and poise that was surpassed by her internal grace and warm presence.
Kelly is survived by her husband and best friend David B. Reed who was hooked on her charismatic spirit from the moment they met during a business meeting while she was working at Westland Oil in Houston. She will be deeply missed by her brother Blake Smith, his wife Linda and her dear nephew Marshall all of whom she cherished.
She filled her heart being a lifelong friend to Susan, Jana, Kathy and Liz who will forever remember her as being a fiercely loyal confidant, a skilled Black Jack player, an excellent cook and a notorious partner in crime. Kelly passionately poured her whole heart into everything she did – nurturing her gardens, her kittens and her people so that each blossomed to its brightest under her care.
A memorial service will be held at Cashner Funeral Home on Monday, May 27 at 10:00am, followed by a celebration.
To honor her legacy as a passionate Master Gardener, donations can be made in her memory to Montgomery County Master Gardener Association (MCMGA) in lieu of flowers.
Kelly would want us all to know with certainty that she is now in a peaceful place, tending God’s garden – placing patterns of beautiful color all around us as reminders to praise Him and to remember that true beauty like hers is deeper than flesh, longer than life and brighter than sunshine.
Let us find Kelly’s beauty on every petal of each bloom that we see and in every heart of each one of us that she touched along the way. And let us find solace in the words Kelly lovingly inscribed on a note for David before he headed offshore to work on an oil rig in 1981 that he still carries in his wallet today:
“This parting cannot be for long; for those who love as we do cannot be parted. We shall always be united in thought and thought is a great magnet.”
