If researchers had ever wished to test the hypothesis that mothers have eyes in the back of their heads, they would have done no better than to engage as their subject Marjorie Louise Smith Reid during the mid-1970s. Having spent two decades by then caring for 5 active children & her husband John, while making homes in Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Colorado, & California, her ability to detect what her kids were up to was uncanny. While today, her skills at parenting could easily have earned her a loyal following on YouTube, Marjorie seemed satisfied knowing she had her kids’ love and respect then and now.
Marjorie did not need a lot to be happy. She could find a lot of joy in the routines of ordinary life, from naming the hummingbirds visiting the feeder outside the kitchen window, to pointing out shapes in the linoleum beneath her feet & in the clouds overhead that others would not have taken the time to notice. Marjorie laughed a lot, often at herself when her careful planning went awry. Her ability to adapt, no matter what life threw at her, was likely inherited from her parents, Fay & Minnie (Parker) Smith, who brought her home in 1931 to older siblings Woody, Don & Maurine. Of the many stories Marjorie told about her childhood, most centered on how her family worked together to survive the Great Depression in their home on 27th Street in Des Moines, Iowa. Despite these hardships, the family passed on to Marjorie both an abundance of love & a sense of humor that she shared with others for the rest of her life.
Marjorie studied art at Iowa State & Drake Universities, leaving after her junior year to marry John in 1951. Caring devotedly for family, she also volunteered at her children’s schools, Girl Scouts, & for a charity associated with Stanford Children’s Hospital. Her artistic skills were reflected in many of her endeavors: sewing, needlework, sculpture, drawing, pen & ink, block printing, & many other media.
Moving to Oregon & then Arizona in 1978 with John & their youngest child, Marjorie worked outside the home for the first time, eventually earning a real estate license. By 2006, Marjorie had lost all of the members of her birth family. Her beloved husband John died in 2009.
After 11 years of hearing John shouting “MARJ!” from heaven, Marjorie joined him in the early morning hours of December 26, 2020. It brings a measure of comfort to believe that she has been reunited with so many of her loved ones who left the world before her; perhaps they have met together in a heavenly version of the place where she first learned to love, the Smith family home in Des Moines.
Marjorie’s favorite advice was, “Do something you WANT to do every day.”
She is survived by their five children and their families: Mary Reid & husband Jim Sample & their daughter Caitlin Sample; son Kirk Reid & wife Janet, his daughters Heather Reid & Hiliary Cruse (husband Tim & their children Makayla & Lucas), Janet’s daughter Amy Beller Perez (son Shaun Dilts, Jr.); son Hugh Reid and wife Cindy, their son Kevin (wife Trish, his son Nathaniel, and their children Kevin, Jr. & Hadlee) & their daughter, Amanda; daughter Jane Reid & husband Alan Allwardt & their son Parker; and daughter Lisa Reid Ricker, her husband Glenn, & Glenn’s daughter, Gina.
The family gives heartfelt thanks to the staff of Brookdale Tempe & Hospice of the Valley for their devoted care of Marjorie. Donations may go to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Desert Botanical Garden , Phoenix, Arizona
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