Celia Smart

CELIA SMART, 86 passed away on May 6th, 2020 surrounded by her children. Celia was born in Middlesbrough, England in 1934 to William and Martha Weightman. Celia is survived by her children, Nick Smart, Julia (Tom) Marreel, Helen Smart, and James Smart. Her grandchildren, Veronica Bellinghiere, Andrew Marreel, Michael Marreel and Wilson Smart and her nieces and nephews in England along with her 2 sisters.

She was the eldest of 4 sisters. They were raised during WWII and had a turbulent childhood, during which they endured bombings, The Blitz, switching schools, food and clothing rations. Her father’s family owned several silent film cinemas in Middlesbrough. As a young girl, Celia would help with the film reels between shows.

Celia’s childhood made her into the woman she became; strong, loving and determined. At seventeen, she left home to become a Nurse. By 1953 Celia was training at the Royal Victoria Infirmary and specialized in Midwifery. She then joined the British Army in Aldershot, as a Lieutenant in the Royal Nursing Corps and was sent to the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital in the London area where she worked on the medical/surgical ward and was a scrub nurse in OR. It was here she met E. Colin Smart, M.D. They were married November 12, 1958. For the first couple of years, they lived in Berlin, Germany with the British Army. After leaving the Army in 1960, they settled in Burton-Upon-Trent, England and started their family where Nick, Julia, Helen and James were born. Celia was very talented and creative, she sewed our clothes, she took sculpture, drawing and painting lessons while raising her family. She has a collection of clay statues, oils, charcoal, watercolor paintings and penciled drawings.

They loved to travel and being adventurous; the family emigrated to the U.S. in October of 1967 when James was 6 months old. Tioga, ND was their first stop and the young family settled in for the next 6 years. Colin joined a medical practice, Celia worked with him and they also purchased a 300 head cattle ranch. The ranch was their escape place with wide open space, ranch hands, cows, calves, bulls, horses, dogs and wildlife running in every direction, and our Mom was right in the middle of it. She would roll up her sleeves, learned to ride western style, work the cattle, throw haybales, get dirty like most men and then turn back into a total classy English Lady! She would take us kids out to the ranch during the summer and we would live in an old converted school house and fish, swim, ride horse and bounce around in the back of the pickup truck. She was a Cub & Boy Scout Den Mother, and won awards at the Tioga Farm Festival for various things she made. Celia also learned to fly and received her pilot’s license in 1970 to help transport patients to Minot, ND or Denver.

In 1973, we made a quick stop to Bowman, ND for six months and then onto Belle Fourche, SD. Colin and Celia setup a medical practice and worked together. This area was their favorite because of the beautiful Black Hills. They loved to tour the countryside in a motorhome, go camping, boating, traveling to Arizona, driving to the west coast and through the Rocky Mountains from Montana to Colorado. They were always looking for their next destination.

Celia decided to go back to college to get her U.S. nursing degree.

She would drive twice a week to Rapid City to attend an accelerated evening program while still raising a family and working full-time. She graduated in 1976 with honors. Another milestone was when we all became U.S. Citizens in Rapid City on February 24th, 1977.

The end of 1979 and starting to become empty nesters, Colin and Celia moved to Chandler, AZ. Colin joined a large medical practice. Celia set out to continue her nursing in surgery at Mesa Lutheran Hospital for a few years. She then joined the CUSD as a school nurse at Erie Elementary School for a couple years. They were both very active with the local Chandler Community Hospital and the fundraising effort to relocate the Hospital to Dobson & Frye Roads in 1984.

Colin opened up his own medical practice in Sun Lakes and once again Celia worked alongside him as his nurse and office manager. They did this until the HMOs started expanding in Arizona. Celia went on to write and teach the Nurse’s Aide program at Pima Medical Institute from 1992 -1996. She officially retired in 1996 to enjoy her grandchildren, gardening and spending time at their cabin.

Never one to sit still, Celia volunteered at her grandsons’ school and once again with the Dignity Health East Valley Foundation to help raise money for various programs and new building projects until 2016. She also mastered growing roses in the Arizona heat. Her passions were family, gardening, feeding wild birds and her pets, to which we always had at least 2-5 dogs/cats at any given time. You could always find her outside trimming her rose bushes, weeding or watering her garden.

If you knew Celia, you would have called her Mrs. Smart. She was classy, smart, polite, pretty, kind, tough, generous, loving, and always correcting our grammar with her English accent. She is loved and will be deeply missed by her family and dear friends near and far.

Celia is preceded in death by her husband, E. Colin Smart, her parents, her sister, Janet and numerous relatives.

Services will be private.

In lieu of (her love for) flowers, please consider a memorial donation in Celia’s name to either the Desert Botanical Garden at www.dbg.org/support/donations/ OR Dignity Health East Valley Foundation – Celia Smart Memorial –https://www.supportdignityhealtheastvalley.org/what-we-support/celia-smart-memorial for the new Chandler Hospital Healing Garden.