Frances Kathleen Smith

Kathleen Smith, 84 CADILLAC, Mich. - Frances (Kathy) Kathleen Smith, 84, of Cadillac, Mich., passed on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, at Arizona Angels Care Home in Surprise, Ariz., following a difficult battle with leukemia. She was born in Bay City, Mich., on Dec. 15, 1928, to the late Norman and Irene Shook. Kathy attended Central Michigan University, taught elementary school and retired from Midland Public Schools after 42 years of service. She loved cooking, baking, poetry, gardening and crafts, but most of all she loved "being at the cottage" on Lake Mitchell in Cadillac, Michigan. Kathy and Willard became Arizona snowbirds after purchasing a home in Sun City West, Arizona in 1992, while retaining their Michigan residency. They spent winters in Arizona and summers in Michigan. Kathy is survived by two children, Nancy Jean Smith of Stockton, Calif.; Doug Smith of Trinidad, Calif.; three grandchildren, Nicolás, Micael, Shoshana Smith; and one sister, Bette Wilson of Juneau, Alaska, and Sun City West, Ariz. Kathy was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Willard Smith of Midland, Mich., on Jan. 15, 2007. A memorial service will be 10 a.m., March 13, 2012, at Desert Palms Presbyterian Church in Sun City West, Ariz. In July a private gathering will take place at the family cottage in Cadillac. The family wishes to thank those who showed so much kindness to Kathy during her last difficult year of life, especially the wonderful staff at Grandview Terrace in Sun City West, Ariz., and the loving family of Andrea Petrus in Surprise, Ariz. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made to Leukemia or Alzheimer's Research.