In lieu of flowers, the family invites you to please consider making a donation to Lutheran Haven Benefit Fund.

Here's a picture from Mom's 90th birthday.  Rachel and I went to see her & brought her an ice cream cake and a "Gator" sticker for her orange golf cart!  Mom was an angel on earth and lived what she believed.  She was always volunteering for the thankless jobs that few others would ever take on.  I never heard her say an unkind word about anyone.  Her passing has caused me to want to follow her example of living everyday as a shining beacon of love.

My condolences are with everyone that loved and admired this gentle lady. My most vibrant memories are when I was a child and we would go to grandma and grandpa’s house in MA. I remember walking what (seemed like) the big woods behind the house, playing in the ‘other world’ basement set up like a battlefield with toy soldiers and tanks, talking with grandpa who sat in his overstuffed chair, listening to the record with ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’  - my favorite song.  But the best thing I will never forget was the dinner that was standard fair when we were there.... hotdogs, baked beans, and warm brown bread dripping with melted butter fresh and steaming from the oven....My favorite! She was of the generation that sent letters and cards, and hand-sewn crafts and never forgot a birthday. We had visits over the years  in MA, FL, and NM. These  pictures are  from when she came out to NM to visit her great-granddaughter, Mindy Lea,  in 1983. 

Joie and I traveled to Oviedo every Mother's Day to be with Mom and family.  This picture of the family on Mother's Day 2018 was the last time we were altogether with Mom.  Unfortunately because of the Covid pandemic this was the last Mother's Day we could celebrate in person.
Standing:  Dave, Don, Richard
Sitting: Joie, Rhonda, Faith, Mom

(This is the snapshot that accompanies Richard's post of March 12th) This is the  photo Richard found of Mom holding him on a pony when he was less than 2 years old. 

Rhonda showing Mother a video post, "Look at this, Grandma" on  Mother's Day 2017 when all the siblings and spouses gathered in Florida.

A photo of Margaret (on right) and her sister Betty in the 1920s. Their father raised chickens at one point and had a large vegetable garden. When I was growing up Mother and Grandpa were the only two people allowed in his garden. On summer evenings our main dinner was corn on the cob with a side of meat and potatoes.

Today I have been looking through old family photos and will post a few. This one is of the Dickhaut family in the 1950s.

Attached is a screenshot I took via FaceTime on Mother's 100th birthday. Candi had sent the sash and crown for her to wear.

My thoughts since the news of Mother's  death have been a jumble of images, a collage of moments remembered throughout my lifetime. For over forty years, I’ve made the trek to Florida where the family moved when Dad retired, and many of my memories reside there. I picture specific spots like Vero Beach when we rose early to greet the sunrise while walking along the shore. Or one Christmas after my father died when it was 80 degrees and my brother Don and I took Mother to see the oldest cypress tree in Florida—its trunk so wide the three of us fingertip to fingertip couldn’t wrap our arms around it. 

I remember many times of flying in to the Orlando airport. Mother would greet me with a huge smile and a hug and bring me back to the “cottage” in Oviedo. They lived at Lutheran Haven, a duplex on the corner facing the track behind the elementary school run by St. Luke’s. She’d always make up a green salad in advance as well as the standard pot of split pea soup (no surprises there) to have our meal ready when we walked in the door. Another twenty years’ worth of holidays after Dad died and Mother remarried—a second husband named Paul who loved to go out for dinner and a drive. She was blessed in that union, and traveled each summer to Ohio and California to see his relatives as well as to New England to see hers.

My friend Hazel and I traveled to Florida several times to escape Northeast winters for a week. She recalls about my mother, “Wherever she went, people knew her.” Mother volunteered around the campus, working in the gift shop or for the annual tag sale. Until her nineties, she took reservations and collected money for the monthly munch and music events. She was the eldest and most long-term resident of the Haven because she moved there in her late fifties and had lived there ever since. People liked her too. She was friendly to everyone.

Faith

Margaret Smeyak, 100, Oviedo, Florida, died in her sleep on March 10, 2021.  She was born on  August 8, 1920, in Waltham, Massachusetts to Erwin and Ethel (Jones) Castner.  Margaret was preceded in death by husbands Paul G. Dickhaut d. 1981 and Paul Smeyak d. 2005, sister Elizabeth Castner, daughter-in-law Pat Dickhaut, grandsons Wesley Dickhaut Russell, Paul Richard Dickhaut, and great-grandson Travis Morton.  She is survived by her children  Richard Dickhaut, Faith Dickhaut Kindness, David Dickhaut (wife Karen), and Donald Dickhaut (wife Rhonda). By grandchildren: Cara Dickhaut Morton, Candice Helmlinger (husband Brian), David Dickhaut, Jr., Dean Dickhaut, and Rachel Dickhaut. By great-grandchildren: Mindy Morton Williams (husband Michael), Ty Morton (wife Tirza), Noelle Helmlinger, Ean Helmlinger, Fisher Helmlinger  and Evelyn Dickhaut as well as three great-great-grandchildren Porter, Paige, and Padraic Williams 

Margaret lead a full life.  Secretary before marriage, acting as a neighborhood watch warden during WWII, housewife, mother, Girl Scout leader, Cub Scout leader, member of League of Women Voters, church volunteer which included secretarial services, member of the Altar Guild, Ladies Guild, devotional reader on Haven radio station, scheduler of volunteers for the Village Shoppe as well as being the coordinator for the musical luncheons. Her interests included crocheting,  knitting, sewing, tailoring, cross stitch, and embroidery. 

She enjoyed bowling, playing bridge and doing cross word puzzles.  She especially loved playing Scrabble and cards with her family.   Margaret was open to learning throughout her life.  She embraced using email and Facebook to keep in touch with her family.  Her favorite use of the internet was seeing her families' pictures.

In lieu of flowers, the family invites you to please consider making a donation to Lutheran Haven Benefit Fund.

(from Richard) Found a photo of Mom holding  me on a pony when I was less that 2 years old, have a photo of me in a wagon when I was three (I'm sure that Mom was pulling that wagon across the street from 685 Trapelo Rd. to visit her Grandma and Grampa - that house visible in the background), memories of Mom playing chess with me   in Jr. High school years, and also playing of table game "pick up sticks".

AVIS DE DÉCÈS

Margaret LeBarron (Dickhaut) Smeyak

8 août 1920 – 10 mars 2021

Baldwin-Fairchild Goldenrod/Winter Park Funeral Home

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