Carol Kile Renne

Carol Pauline Kile Renne, 97, of Longs, S.C., died peacefully at home on Saturday, February 28th, 2026. She was born on February 13th, 1929, in Camden, N.J., where she was raised, the second child of William Kile, police officer with the Delaware River Port Authority, and Elizabeth (née Kiermeier), homemaker, seamstress, and Republican Party ward leader. Her sisters are Elizabeth Gardner of Sierra Madre, Ca., and Joan DiLorenzo of Myrtle Beach, S.C. She was predeceased by her brother William Kile II.

The family attended historic St. Michael’s and Zion Lutheran Church on Franklin Square in Philadelphia. It was a German-speaking congregation, and her confirmation hymn, So nimm denn meine Hände (“Lord, Take My Hand and Lead Me”), was a favorite throughout her life. She graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1946, then worked at Bell Telephone in Camden in the billing department. In 1950 she married Leighton Smith, and resided at 1713 42nd St. in Pennsauken, N.J. They had four children, Carol Elizabeth (who later went by Carole) (1952–2014), Gary Leighton (1953–2015), Kile Stephen (b. 1956), and Susan Agnes (b. 1957). The family moved to 6542 Cedar Ave., Pennsauken, in 1959.

They attended Temple Lutheran Church in Pennsauken. Carol was a most active member, singing alto (and sometimes tenor) in the choir, teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, planning, running, helping many missions and activities, and serving on church council, including being its president. Loving to help children through teaching and crafting, she was also involved in Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts. The Cedar Avenue house was a hub of activity, seeing neighbors, church friends, and friends of her children constantly coming and going. Many of these friends have later recounted how much they enjoyed the warm and welcoming Smith house, revolving around Carol.

Leighton left the family in 1971; after the divorce, Carol continued to be active in church and in the lives of her children. She worked for the Lutheran Home at Moorestown as head bookkeeper, then controller. With a friend she founded and ran Crafters’ Crossing in Merchantville, N.J. After some years she was introduced to Henry Renne, a widower. They married in 1985, residing in Bridgeton and Greenwich, N.J., Calabash, N.C., and Egg Harbor Twp., N.J. When Henry died in 2000, daughter Susan Kinkle, with her husband Fran, immediately took Carol into their new home in Pittsgrove, N.J., and later to Longs, S.C.

Carol taught her children to treat everyone equally, to have no prejudices, and that every person was a child of God. She loved her family, her church, her Lord Jesus Christ, and her friends. She loved and sorely missed Henry Renne. She was thrilled to prepare for or to join in the large family get-togethers of Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, other holidays, and birthdays. She enjoyed parties, dancing, singing, and sewing. She loved jazz, especially Maynard Ferguson, attending live concerts of his since the 1950s at Pennsauken’s Red Hill Inn, taken there by her beloved brother Bill. She loved nothing more than to sit of an evening, perhaps with a VO manhattan, talking of things important and unimportant, enwrapped in the joy of being with her family. She uplifted everyone around her. The angels and a cloud of witnesses gather Carol Kile Renne into her eternal home.

Carol is survived by her son Kile (Jacqueline) Smith, daughter Susan (Louis Francis) Kinkle, grandchildren Priscilla (Grant) Herreid, Elena (Joseph) Kauffman, Martina (Hayden) Adams, Gary (Berkely) Smith Jr., great-grandsons Angus Herreid and John (Jack) Kauffman, sisters Elizabeth and Joan, and many beloved nieces, nephews, their families, and a lifetime of friends.

Her funeral service will be held at St. Philip Lutheran Church, 6200 N. Kings Hwy., Myrtle Beach, SC 29572, on March 21st, 2026, at 11 am. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to St. Philip Lutheran or to the charity of your choice.