Mary "Niki" Smith

Mary was born on April 12, 1923 to parents Porter and Lula Strode who lived on a farm near Mt. Carmel, Kentucky. She attended the local Fleming County schools and after graduating from Flemingsburg High School, attended the University of Kentucky.

With many of her fellow students leaving college to enlist or volunteer during World War II, Mary moved to Dayton, Ohio in 1943 to work as a secretary at Wright Field, later to be known as Wright-Patterson AFB. While still working there after the war, she met Lt. Col. Gerald A. Smith and they married at White Sulphur Springs, WV on June 1, 1949. In 1952, she and Gerry moved to Weisbaden, Germany, headquarters for the USAAF in Europe, where Gerry helped to work with NATO. Later, Mary and Gerry transferred to Fontainebleau, France where they spent a wonderful time in a rented house along a canal and enjoyed travels across Europe and skiing in the Alps. In 1954, Gerry was reassigned to McGuire AFB and they bought their first house in Bordentown, NJ where Mary gave birth to her first daughter, Cynthia. In 1956, another transfer took them to McChord AFB where they rented a house in the forested hills above Tacoma, WA. It was here that Mary' second daughter, Susan, was born premature and both parents struggled with the burden of taking care of such a small and dear baby. During their stay in Washington, Mary had the chance to really get after her favorite pastime of gardening. At the Washington home as well as all the homes that came later, there was always a flower garden and a bouquet on the table.

With Gerry left active duty in 1957, Mary and he looked back on the places they'd lived and decided the best place to raise there family was back in the Dayton area. With Gerry's transfer back to civil service at Wright-Patterson, they bought a house in Kettering, OH where their third child, Kevin, was born in 1960. The family stayed put in Kettering where all the children went through their school years, Kevin was the last to graduate from high school in 1978. As Kevin moved off to college, Mary and Gerry retired to Florida where they enjoyed the warm climate and gardening as well as visits from the children and grandchildren. In 1990, they decided to move closer to Kevin and retired again to Bakersfield, CA where they managed to take many trips to see the sights of California. With Gerry's passing in 1996 and Kevin taking a new job in Dallas, Mary moved with some reluctance to the great state of Texas. When Mary needed to move out of her apartment, she was indeed lucky to move to Cottonwood Estates where she met many great friends and enjoyed the golden years of her life.

Mary is survived by her son Kevin Smith and his wife Stacey, grandchildren Kristen Korman, Jamie Korman, Holden Smith and Skyler Smith, nephew Robert Strode. She was preceded in death by her husband Lt. Col. Gerald A. Smith, daughters Cynthia Smith Korman and Susan Smith.

There will be a service to celebrate Mary's life on Thursday, December 30, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. at Allen Family Funeral Options in Plano, Texas.