Loretta Smiley, 78

Loretta Smiley, 78, of Athol, Idaho and Vacaville, Calif., passed away Saturday, April 16, 2016. Smiley was born in Walla Walla, Washington on October 29, 1937 to Jack E and Helene Ross. At the age of 5, she and her parents moved to California.

Smiley settled in Vacaville with her husband and their four children in 1973. Smiley owned service stations in both Vacaville and Vallejo, but also ran a local plumbing company. She was known and loved by many.

In 2003, Smiley moved to Athol, where she took great pleasure and pride in caring and helping to raise her two youngest grandchildren. In 2010, after her husband passed away, she was cared for by her daughter and her two children, and thus became known by many as Nana.

Nana ensured that many high school children never went home to an empty home. She cheered any and all kids on at football games, basketball games, cheerleading events, concerts for both band and singing. At these events she will be greatly missed.

Last summer, she was able to pass on a few final lessons to her granddaughter, who was recovering from surgery here. It was those nights that the two of them shared that she valued so much. Smiley was a beloved member of First Lutheran Church in Spirit Lake, Idaho, where she applied much of her efforts to raising money for a new church, until a crack in the church caused her to seek a new religious home at Christ the King in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Smiley was an honest, kind-hearted, hard-working and loving woman who had a love for traveling, crafting, reading and knowledge. But above all, her love for her family and God were by far her greatest accomplishments during her life.

Smiley had been suffering with great pain for years and was only shortly diagnosed with lung cancer. Her smile brightened the halls at both the hospital and the care facility where she had been the last month. It was great to see nurses and CNAs that would just come in to visit with her on their breaks. They always commented on what “a Sweetheart she” was. Smiley touched many with her kind heart and words.

Smiley is survived by daughter Linda Smiley-Rundgren, grandchildren Clayton Rundgren, Blayre Rundgren-Smiley and Alex McLean of Athol, daughter Jackie Smiley, grandchildren RobertAnn Smiley and Richard Eric Martin of Fairfield, Shane and Paige Hall of Vacaville, son Leo Smiley, wife Leslie, grandson Ross Smiley of Reno, son Jess Taylor, wife Joyce of San Lorenzo, and their children Joshua, April, Christina, Richard, Holly and Matthew, and more than a dozen great grandchildren.

Visitation will be 4-8 p.m., Friday April 29, 2016 at Yates Funeral Home, Hayden Chapel and funeral services will be 11 a.m., Saturday, April 30, 2016 at Christ the King Lutheran Church. Burial will be at the Coeur d’Alene Memorial Gardens following the services.

Yates Funeral Home has been entrusted with the care of final arrangements.