Maureen K. Smith

Maureen Kay (Luther) Smith, child of God, died on March 20, 2019 after a twenty plus year battle with complications brought on by a complete dissection of her aorta artery. She was born on October 6, 1948 to Robert J. and Edith R. (Buschow) Luther in Miller, South Dakota. Her father came from an Irish Catholic family, but his father had the name of Luther which indicated a German heritage and a relationship to Martin Luther who led the Reformation to break away from the Roman Catholic Church. Recently Maureen discovered evidence that she was related to Martin Luther. She was raised Roman Catholic until her Presbyterian mother had a falling out with a nun and insisted that Maureen start attending the Presbyterian Church. The irony would not stop there. In 1968 she met a young Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Walter R. Smith, who was called to be the Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Mankato, Minnesota where Maureen worked her way through college as a secretary. They fell in love and were married on June 27, 1970. They married just a few weeks after she graduated from Mankato State University with a BS degree in Elementary Education. Maureen, in some ways, never left the Roman Catholic Church. When she and her family moved to Lynchburg, Virginia she became a kindergarten teacher and later the IT teacher at Holy Cross Regional Catholic School where she would often help students understand the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, and from which she retired in 2009.

The overriding theme of Maureen’s life was “do for others,” which was beautifully expressed by her making delicious meals for her family (she was a gourmet cook), baking Christmas cookies to take to the neighbors, teaching her young sons how to make their own Play-Doh and cook, being active in their school activities, taking walks with them to interesting places in town, making special cakes for their birthdays, searching out museums for them to visit, helping young unmarried pregnant women in the inner city of St. Louis, MO gain their GED, developing  summer park programs with the Methodist minister’s wife, Linda Miller, in the rural town of Alexis, Illinois to keep the children’s minds creative during the long, hot summer days, becoming a Webelo’s leader for the Boy Scouts when they could not find a man to do the job (the Scoutmaster said that she was the best Webelo’s leader he had ever seen and started him thinking that maybe women could play a role in a boys program), volunteering in a week-day school at the Methodist Church in Statesville, NC working with her dear friend, Delores Spielman, working to midnight to prepare her lessons for the children at Holy Cross school, and becoming a big sister with the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Central Virginia. Her husband, Walter, said, “Maureen did what I preached about.” Yet, to know Maureen you never know these things; she was a private person who kept her love for others deep within her and never sought to be in the limelight.

Maureen is survived by her husband of almost forty-nine years, Walter; two sons: Damon of Lynchburg, Bryan and his wife Tori of Midlothian, VA; two grandsons, Noah and Samuel; a cousin, Sharon of Chicago, IL, and a cat, Tigger. She is also survived by her dear friend Tonya Mosley of Morrow, Georgia and her daughter Toshana (Tai), and her children Amilyah and Nehemiah; her little sister who is now a mother herself; Jamila Mosley (Dexter), and her children, Syi’marii and Asi’yah and Tonya’s two sons, Damani Bailey and Nicholas Baxley.

A Celebration of the Resurrection for Maureen will be held on Tuesday, April 2 at 2:00 pm at First Presbyterian Church, Lynchburg, VA with the Rev. Peter Thompson and the Rev. Dennis Roberts of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, officiating. The Rev. Charles Davidson of Asheville, NC will also speak as a dear friend of the family. A reception will follow the service. Friends may also call at the house between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

In lieu of flowers, please consider memorials to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Virginia, First Presbyterian Church, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, and the Stroobants Center of Centra.

The family wishes to express their deepest appreciation to Dr. David Franz, the late Dr. John Bell, Dr. Stephen Rennyson, Dr. Corey Passman, Dr. Geeta Rakheram, Dr. Asad Ehtesham, and the many hospitalists, nurses, CNA’s, and the janitorial staff (for keeping the hospital clean) at Centra, who took care of Maureen over the years. We wish also to express our profound love for the members and staff of First Presbyterian Church who were supportive of Maureen and Walter in those early years of Maureen’s medical crises, and continued to be, and to the staff and members (especially the Monday Night Bible study class) of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church who also embraced and supported Maureen and Walter in their greatest need.

 Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting the family.