LINDA RAE (STEEL) SMITH
May 24, 1946 ˜ November 21, 2021

Linda Rae (Steel) Smith was born May 24, 1946, in Vancouver, WA, to Thelma and Robert Steel. She was the youngest of their children, and the only girl. She passed away in Vancouver, WA, Nov. 21, 2021.

Mom was a force. She had a beautiful smile, a great laugh, a strong moral center, astute opinions, and an enormous heart. She was the axis of our family. A person just couldn't have a better wife, mom, sister, daughter, or friend.

She attended Our Lady of Lourdes and Providence Academy, graduating in 1964. As a teenaged waitress, she chased around with her girlfriends and had all kinds of fun her mother didn't need to know about.

On her adventures, she met a handsome young man who owned a gas station with his buddy. She really took a shine to Charlie (Chuck) Smith. They eloped to Post Falls, ID, and started their great adventure Nov. 7, 1964. They were too busy socializing and having fun with their many friends to have kids right away. Mom loved to tell stories about those early years, of boating and fishing and being a really fun aunt and uncle to their nieces and nephews. They worked hard and played hard and had a great time. They welcomed us three girls, Michelle, Lisa, and Laurie, between 1970-1979. Mom loved being a mom. She was active in the upbringings of her 12 nieces and nephews. Exchange students Abi and Javier, numerous short term exchange students, and friends of the girls all called our parents Mom and Dad.

Family dinner time was a priority for Mom. She was a fantastic cook and we ate dinner together nightly at the table to talk and spend time as a family. She was curious about everything and passed that quality to all of us. More often than not, we'd get onto one topic or another and Mom would settle any uncertainty by reading us an entire article from one of the sets of encyclopedias she'd purchased. If the 1948 World Book downstairs didn't provide an adequate answer, she'd send us upstairs for the 1978 Encyclopedia Brittanica she'd brought home from the used bookstore all stacked up in the trunk of her 1965 Olds 442.

Our big vacation every summer was a week on the east end of Government Island. Mom planned and prepared for weeks ahead of time, and only as adults can we appreciate the work Mom put into the logistics of a camping trip that hosted at least 15 people every night from three or more separate families, picking up and returning different friends every day, Shelley and Lisa's work schedules, and how to keep enough ice in all the coolers. She had a years-long arrangement with fishermen we didn't actually know who would trade her fish they'd catch for a plate of hot blackberry pancakes. Her kitchen tent was a well-run machine tuned to perfection over the years, and she could make anything out there. Her blackberry pie, baked on the barbecue, was unparalleled.

We waterskiied, tubed, explored the island, had water fights, played on the beach, and swam across the river as Dad idled "Peanuts" alongside us. Our camp was huge and those trips were the best part of the summer for many years for many people including extended family and friends.
Mom loved us. She had high expectations for us and running afoul of them was ill-advised. She was generous in every sense and wanted to provide us every opportunity she and Dad could give. We all played the piano, swam, taught swimming lessons at Club Oxford, went on high school exchange programs, and went to college. She was a blue ribbon, gold star Mom. The world would be a better place if more people had the good fortune to have parents like ours.

Mom loved to travel with Dad. A favorite spot was Goose Lake for fishing and camping and going into Trout Lake for a good patty melt. We like to think that Mom is going ahead to scope out the next good spot and big adventure.

In 1997, the oldest daughter, Michelle, moved to Australia to be with Geoffrey. Mom planned a beautiful wedding for Shell and Geoff at Lewisville Park. Mom and Dad loved their trips to Australia. They sailed off the Great Barrier Reef, enjoyed traveling across Australia with Shell and Geoff from South Australia to their new home in Queensland, and Mom loved her Aussie grandchildren and great grandchildren. Until Facetime became a thing, Dad was gracious about the phone bills. Shelley and Mom probably kept AT&T afloat.

From the late 1990s until 2016, Mom and Dad also spent a lot of time in Fairbanks, AK, where two daughters, Lisa and Laurie, had lived for several years. They made many friends along the way and Mom was an authoritative resource on just about every campground, potty stop, and restaurant along the Alaska and Cassiar Highways.

In 2010, Dad and Laurie built Laurie's house in Fairbanks, and they built a guest cabin in 2016. Mom did all the behind the scenes work that made the projects possible. She ran the household, ran errands, took care of the dogs and her brand new grandson and offered design insights that generally turned out to be perfect, if a little inconvenient at the time.

A very special trip for Lisa, Mom, and Dad was a 2020 camping trip in central Nevada, near the Berlin-lchthyosaur State Park, where they were able to report back to Laurie and her boys about the fossils and mining ghost town in the desert they needed to come check out.
Mom and Dad became grandparents later in life to Laurie's boys, and the three grandchildren, Eugene, Lincoln, and Matthew, brought tremendous joy and pride to Mom. She was born to be an indulgent Grammie and she delighted in offering chocolate milk and cookies, cuddling the little ones to watch cartoons, playing with Play-Doh, and teaching Eugene to bake chocolate cake and meatloaf.

Over their long marriage, Mom and Dad faced together any challenge they ever had, holding hands and head on, and they made the best out of every day. The second week of October this year, Mom texted us beautiful fall pictures from their RV campsite on the banks of the Klickitat River.
Mom loved people. She cared about their lives, their families, what they liked to do or eat or think, and she loved to talk with people. She cared about them and wanted to connect with them. It doesn't matter if it was a clerk at the store, a caregiver, a neighbor from Vancouver, WA, or Fairbanks, AK, a friend of Shelley's from Australia, a niece or nephew, or a childhood friend of one of us girls. The story is always the same: Chuck and Linda are the neatest people, and Linda was a real character: generous and caring, interesting, funny, and fun to talk with. They marvel at the adventures they've had, how much they love our family, and all the people they've "adopted" along the way.

Linda is survived by Chuck Smith, her sweetheart, best buddy, and fishing partner of 57 years; three daughters and their families, Michelle and Geoff Henderson, Lisa and Kerry Digou, Laurie Smith; and her boys, Eugene, Lincoln, and Matthew. She had a special friendship with her grandsons' dad, Andy. Her parents Robert and Thelma Steel and brothers Ronnie and Roger Steel and sister-in-law Diane preceded her in death. Her oldest brother and sister-in-law Bob and Judy Steel and her combined 12 nieces and nephews from her brothers, along with their abundant children and grandchildren, and family friend John Reddick brought Mom a lot of happiness. Her 21-year-old miniature dachshund, Kaycee Ray, several longtime best friends and their families, and a wide range of friends, acquaintances, and caregivers round out the relationships that made Mom's life full and happy. Mom made a big impact in her 75 years.

A gathering will be planned this spring or summer, when the weather improves and we can all be together. Memorial contributions may be made to organizations supporting diabetes or kidney research.