Funeral services are planned for 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 18, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Aleman, Texas. Pastor Aaron Kalbas of St. John Lutheran Church & Academy in Hamilton, Texas, will officiate. Interment will follow at the Aleman Lutheran Cemetery.
Simona Bottlinger Smith was born on February 15, 1937, to Lee Monroe and Nora Emma Sophia (Kelm) Bottlinger. The family lived in the Aleman community near Simona’s grandparents, Frank Xavier and Emilie (Bertha) Sommerfeld Bottlinger. Simona was baptized at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Aleman, Texas. On that day God received Simona as one of his children and she lived her entire life with the assurance of God’s love in Jesus. Simona was confirmed at St. John Lutheran Church in Hamilton, Texas, by Pastor Robert Nerger.
Simona attended school at Ann Whitney Elementary School and Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Texas. She graduated from high school in 1955. She subsequently studied at Durham’s Business School in Austin, Texas, after which she was employed as an accountant at J.D. Evans Construction in Austin, where she rose to become accounting and payroll manager.
In early 1968 Simona met Luther Leslie Smith of Gatesville, North Carolina, at Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin. They were married there on March 22, 1969. Their daughter, Stephanie Dianne, was born on October 15, 1970, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Luther’s work took the family to Grants, New Mexico; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Grand Junction, Colorado; and Marietta, Georgia. In 1984 the family relocated to Herndon, Virginia. In each new location, Simona continued in her accounting and payroll career. She retired in 2006.
Simona enjoyed spending time with her family in Texas, with Luther’s family in North Carolina and Virginia, and many friends at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Falls Church, Virginia, gardening, and fun day trips throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.
Simona is survived by her husband Luther, daughter Stephanie (David) Aspinwall, grandsons Daniel, William, and Quentin Aspinwall; sisters Jane Wagner and Billie Katherine (Michael) Looney; sister-in-law Mildred Bottlinger; and many beloved nieces and nephews. Mona was predeceased by her parents, her sister Betty Ann (Rudolph) Senger, and her brother Murlin Jerome Bottlinger.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. John Lutheran Church and Preschool, Hamilton, Texas; St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Aleman, Texas; or St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Falls Church, Virginia.
