Betty L. Smith

Born Betty Lucile Jensen in Seattle on September 23, 1922, the only child of Carl and Wilma (Danielson) Jensen. As a child Betty lived in a number of places in Seattle and the Eastside including Bellevue, Kirkland, and the Panther Lake area. She attended Garfield, Kirkland, and Bellevue High School, where she graduated in 1941.

Betty met her best friend, love of her life, and future husband, Frederick Thomas Smith, during WWII. They were married on January 17, 1946 at the Bethel Presbyterian Church in Seattle, Washington. In October 1947 their first child was born, William Carl (Billy) and in May 1951 a second child arrived, Laurie Ann. Tragedy struck in January 1952 when Billy died of complications from pneumonia. The family had lived in north Seattle until 1959 when they moved to Shoreline where Betty and Fred lived for the next 45 years.

Betty was ahead of her time in choosing to have a career in additional to being a homemaker. She worked for several companies in the 50’s finding employment with the City of Seattle in 1962 where she would later retire after 22 years of service in 1984. Betty was determined to advance her career by attending business school at night taking courses in accounting. She greatly enjoyed what she did for a living working in the Comptroller’s office as a Senior Clerk. Betty also used her accounting skills at home by taking charge of running the family finances so that Fred would have more time to pursue his hobbies including playing his banjo.

Betty liked to experience things first-hand as well as learn about them. This trait carried over into her hobbies, where she was very methodical in how she organized her activities. Betty enjoyed her private time that she used for working on her hobbies. She was an accomplished seamstress who made numerous dresses and house coats for herself and her daughter and shirts for Fred. She was an avid reader who enjoyed reading books, primarily mysteries, on a daily basis. She also loved puzzles and would cut them out of the daily paper to save them for future solving when she had the time and inclination.

Betty loved the ocean and the beach traveling to Cannon Beach often twice a year before and during her retirement. She especially enjoyed the annual vacation at the beach with her grandchildren and serving them their favorite dish, her special homemade lasagna. Betty and Fred were devoted grandparents who took an active interest in their grandsons, often having them spend the night when they were very young and later having them for weekly dinners through much of their adolescence.

Betty Smith passed away on June 13, 2015 at Evergreen Hospice in Kirkland, Washington, after a brief illness. She is finally reunited with her husband, Fred; son, Billy; parents and all those who have gone before her in heaven.

She is survived by her daughter, Laurie Kidd her husband, J. David Kidd; two grandsons, Brian and Steven; many loving extended family and friends.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held on Saturday, July 11, 2015 at The Reflection Room at Evergreen Hospice Center in Kirkland, Washington. A private family service will be held at Betty's final place of rest at Acacia Memorial Park in Seattle, Washington.

MEMORY OF ME

I'd like the memory of me to be a happy one. I'd like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done. I'd like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways, of happy times and laughing times, and bright and sunny days. I'd like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun, with all of the happy memories that I leave when my life is done.