Gladys E Smith

August 7, 1927 - August 15, 2014

Our mother, Gladys Eleanor Smith died peacefully in the calm of her home in the early hours of August 15, 2014 surrounded by family and supported by her lifetime of close friends.

Mom lived every minute of her 87 years caring for her family and friends. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, she graduated from Paseo High School in 1945, and the University of Missouri, Kansas City in 1949 where she was a member of the Chi Omega sorority and a geology major.

Mom began her travels outside her beloved hometown when she married Norman Stanley Smith on June 5, 1949. Their early life was devoted to raising their family while our father’s career as a United States Air Force pilot took her all over the country.

Following 25 years in the Air Force, Mom moved to Seattle, where our father began a second career as an instructor pilot for Boeing. This was followed by a two-year family separation while our father worked for the Union of Burma Airlines. This was the only extended period of living apart that our parents experienced in their marriage.

Mom and dad then moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where they lived until returning to Kansas City for retirement in 1983. Mom made many wonderful friends in Jeddah and was able to enjoy the jet-set international lifestyle of an airline captain’s wife.

Through the travel, relocations, and often lengthy separations required by the nature of dad's career, mom was the foundation our lives revolved around and to which we returned for comfort and never ending love, confidence, and support. In all, mom and dad made their homes in Salina, Kansas; Shreveport, Louisiana; Savannah, Georgia; Tampa, Florida; Waco, Texas; Atwater, California; Rome, New York; Bellevue, Washington; Rangoon Burma (Myamar), and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

In retirement, mom and dad moved back to Kansas City and kept busy with what seemed to us to be endless gatherings to play bridge, golf, and dine with their friends. Mom was an accomplished and gracious hostess for over 65 years. Simply put, they lived to be with their friends.

Mom's 4 sisters, her brothers-in law , our dad, our sister, and a number of cherished friends mom loved dearly predeceased her in death.

Mom is survived by her 2 sons and their wives: Gregg and Janet Smith residing in Auckland, NZ and Doug and Mary Smith residing in Woodinville, WA as well as her brother-in-law and wife Charles and Jo Smith, 7 nieces and nephews, 8 grandchildren, 8 great grandchildren, and an amazing group of very dear friends we always think of as family.

Her lifelong friends who loved her, her nurses and doctors at St Joseph Medical Center who cared lovingly for her during her sudden and unexpected illness, her Home Instead hospice care givers who made her wish to be released from the hospital and go sleep again in her own bed, and our family, already dearly miss mom's smile, her love and caring she so freely offered her friends and family, her love of golf, bridge, and her cats.

Should a memorial contribution be a way you choose to remember and support mom in her new journey, you can join us in supporting St Joseph Medical Center (www.stjosephkc.com), Heartland Hospice Care Memorial Fund (www.heartlandhospicefund.org), or Great Plains SPCA (www.greatplainsspca.org)

A private gathering of family and friends to remember and celebrate mom's life will be held at a later date.

Condolences may be left online at www.mcgilleystatelinechapel.com. Arrangements, McGilley State Line Chapel, 12301 State Line Road, Kansas City, MO, 64145.