Mardell Strassheim-Smith

Mardell Strassheim-Smith passed away on Monday, March 29, 2021 at age 67 following a yearlong battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. Mardell entered eternal rest surrounded by loved ones at her home in Arvada, CO.

Mardell is survived by her husband Doug Smith, her son Sean Strassheim, her cousin Betty Hagan her grandson Kayden Strassheim, and great-granddaughter Adalynn Poe. She leaves behind her niece Deb King and her family, as well as her sister-in-law Ellen Coyle and nephews Kurt and Doug. She also leaves behind lifelong friend Lynn Huber and her family, Larry, Father Steven, Greg, Brian, his wife Nichole and their children, Paxton and Parker who Mardell loved as her grandchildren, and they lovingly called Grandma.

Mardell was born in Denver, CO on July 14, 1953. She was preceded in death by her parents, Clarence and Gladys (Selby) Strassheim, her son Shane Strassheim, her brother Norman Coyle, as well as her beloved aunt and uncle Evelyn and John Strassheim.

She was a 1971 graduate of Aurora Central High School. After high school, she attended travel school and started her career with Trans Globe Travel as an agent specializing in student travel groups. Planning these student trips often meant she got to go along, allowing her to travel all over the world as a tour guide. She was named Ms. TravelAge West in 1973. As she advanced in her career, she started working at Master Travel where she specialized in creating individual vacation trips. She became a branch manager and could solve most problems on the fly thanks to all her travel experience. After 20 years as a travel agent, she left the industry after the dot-com boom and started a new career as a credit manager for Timberline Steel in 1997. Timberline was later purchased by O’Neal Steel out of Birmingham, AL, and Mardell worked for them from her home office until retirement in 2018.

Retirement opened the doorway for her and Doug to travel the country and spend time with everyone she loved. Unfortunately, the pandemic and cancer changed all of that. Sadly, Mardell was not able to travel to see everyone she cared about before she passed to give them a hug and tell them how much she loved them. She was a shining star on this planet and will be deeply missed.

A memorial service will be held this summer.

You may watch a tribute video to Mardell at:

https://youtu.be/u6ArUnoWgsY

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to National Brain Tumor Society:

https://nbtsevents.braintumor.org/MardellSmith