Micheline Denise Smith

Pines, California. Micheline was born on April 11, 1931 in France to Antoinette and George

Deschaux. She was raised in Tournus, France and moved to the United States as a young

woman after marrying her husband of 66 years, Thomas A Smith. She is survived by her

husband, and three sons, Dominique J. Smith, Thomas G. Smith and Michael A. Smith. She is

also survived by six grand children and eleven great grand children.

Even though it was hard for her to talk about them, she shared many of stories about

growing up in France and her life during World War II. Her father was a prisoner of war for 4

years and during that time, Micheline and her family were part of the French Resistance trying

to help the Jewish people.

She met her husband in 1957 when she was visiting a relative who owned a small hotel

restaurant. The hotel was within a few miles of a U.S. military detachment where her future

husband was stationed. Mrs. Smith could only speak a few words of English and her husband

used a small French Dictionary with phrases in both languages. One year later they were

married in her home town at the local church, the Abbey de St. Philibert, which dated back

1000 years.

Mrs. Smith moved to America but found it difficult to adjust to American life and

returned to France with her young son. Six months later her husband obtained a transfer to a

U.S. military base in France where they remained for 4 years. Mrs. Smith started her career

with the American Military working at the store on base.

They eventually found themselves back in the States where she began working at

different bases and positions throughout her career. She worked in San Francisco, Oakland

and Washington DC as a Purchasing Agent retiring in 1993. After retirement they returned to

France for 4 years renovating a 500 year old stone farmhouse near her home town. After

returning to the U.S. they traveled annually to Europe where they had an apartment on the

Costa Brava in Spain. When Mrs. Smith’s health started to fail, they returned to California to be

close to family. She was an amazing person with a rich history and will be missed by so many.