Cheryl Elaine Smith

Cheryl Elain Smith was born a Drake on March 23, 1945, at Lincoln Hospital in Los Angeles, CA, to William Raymond and Doris Mae (Howard) Drake. She was the fourth of five siblings, the others being Don (deceased), Howard, Frances Mardella ("Della" Vassar), and Dale. Cheryl grew up in the small town of Klamath Falls, OR, and eventually graduated from Klamath Union High School before starting an on-again, off-again career in banking. It was at her job at a bank that Cheryl met and eventually married Lawrence Dean Smith on Sept. 6, 1969, a marriage that ended in divorce in 1983. She spent many years as a stay-at-home mom to her two children while also pursuing her passion for writing by working on “her novel” – something she hoped would shed light on the special, and in her mind, ideal, time in which she grew up. Eventually returning to banking, she later retired from U.S. Bank after eventually promoting to a position at the corporate office in Portland. Cheryl was a Christian, a storyteller, a cat-lover, and a tea-lover. She was particular about many things, one of them being her tea; the water must come to a complete, full-whistle boil in a kettle on the stove and then be allowed to steep thoroughly before she would drink it. As far as Cheryl was concerned, microwaves were only for reheating tea – not for making water hot to steep it in. “It just doesn’t taste the same.” Cheryl also enjoyed sewing, though she didn’t consider herself a seamstress, and made numerous unique baby blankets -- one for each of her great nieces and nephews, in addition to a grand-dog or two. She passed away Aug. 3, 2022, from lung complications. Family was one of the most important things to Cheryl and she is survived by her remaining siblings and two children, Scott Anthony Smith and Tamara Ann Saulsbury, along with one granddaughter, Miriam Elaine Donaldson. She will be interred in a private ceremony Aug. 18 at Longview Memorial Park in Longview, WA. A memorial service will be held at 2:00pm, Aug. 20, at the final church she attended, Crossroads Community Church, in Svensen, OR.