Lucille Smith

LUCILLE E (MOYER) SMITH

5/6/1933 - 4/22/2024

Lucy Smith (nee Moyer) grew up in Dunning and Ainsworth, Nebraska where her father, Ralph Emerson Moyer, was the town doctor, and her mother, Alta Marjorie (Dunbar) Moyer, ran the town hospital, which was the 2^nd floor of their home.  Some of Lucy’s fondest memories (and funniest stories) were of small town Midwestern life and the antics of her siblings Avlona (Lonnie), Charles (Chuck) and Zona.   After her father’s death in 1943, the family moved to Omaha, Nebraska where Lucy graduated from Central High School.

Lucy attended Doane College in Crete, Nebraska for two years, studying to be a teacher.  But it was at the weekend square dancing parties where she found her true passion, the love of her life, Stan Smith.  Lucy and Stan were married in 1952 and spent 67 years together.  In their early married life, Lucy worked as a medical secretary, but she later focused on being a mom and corporate wife.

Lucy’s greatest joys in life were her two daughters, Linda (born 1956) and Pamela (born 1959).  Because her husband’s career required that the family relocate every few years, Lucy became an expert at packing, moving and setting up the family in a new location, all in a matter of weeks.  She always made sure the girls were well integrated into the new community before each school year started and frequently served as their Girl Scout leader, home-room mom and band chaperone.  When the girls were in middle and high-school, Lucy also became a small business owner, running a Lawn-A-Mat franchise out of a bedroom, keeping track of seed and fertilizer inventory, handling the accounting and supervising the three employees – Stan’s dad who did the yard work and the girls who did the scheduling.  It was there she earned her nickname “The General”.

Through their corporate moves, Lucy and Stan lived in Omaha several times, as well as Fremont, NE, Wellesley, MA, Des Moines, IA, Minneapolis, MN, Basking Ridge, NJ and McLean, VA.  During Stan’s long career at AT&T and subsequent stint as Assistant Postmaster General of the USPS, Lucy also became renown for her corporate dinner parties.   Daughters Linda and Pam share vivid memories of being the “waitresses” at those parties, serving Mom’s homemade food to executives and their wives.

Lucy and Stan loved being near the water.  During their NJ years, they always had a sailboat and would spend the weekends with the girls at the shore, sailing Barnegat Bay and sharing cocktails with other boat owners at the Point Pleasant Yacht Club.  Later on they had a beach house in Isle of Palms, SC where memories were made as the family gathered for vacations and beach time.

In 1989, Stan retired for the last time and Lucy coordinated their move to Smith Mountain Lake, VA.  They loved lake life and spent 25 years there.  Lucy became an avid bridge player, accumulating Masters points, traveling to tournaments and playing three times a week locally with her lake friends.   However, what she loved more than anything at the lake was entertaining family and the summers surrounded by the happy noise of her daughters, her grandchildren and all their friends playing at the lake.  What her grandchildren remember most of those summers is the endless supply of Grandma’s homemade fruit salad, lemon bread, harvest loaf cake, chocolate chip cookies, blondies and snickerdoodles – especially snickerdoodles, her specialty!

In 2014, Lucy and Stan made their final move – to The Summit in Lynchburg, VA – where they found instant joy in a community of people their own age who shared many of the same memories.  Following Stan’s death in 2019, Lucy continued to live at the Summit, surrounded by family and friends, until her death.

Lucy is survived by her daughters Linda Need (husband Edward) and Pamela Smith, grandchildren Riley Need, Heidi Fisk (husband Joshua), Emily Need, Hannah Heimer (husband Kurt Rhee) and David Heimer and great-grandchildren Isaiah and Jonah Fisk.

At Lucy’s request, there will be no public memorial service.  Please remember her with a smile, a snickerdoodle and kindness to others.

Earthly vessel fails

Still the soul journeys onward

God’s garden awaits.