Barbara Lee Smith

Barbara Lee (Boggs) Smith went home to our Lord on Friday, February 6, 2026. She was living in Stevensville Montana at the Living Centre at the time of her death.

Barbara was born in Ontario Oregon in 1931. Her parents worked on a small farm in New Plymouth Idaho. In 1932 they moved to a farm in Kansas that was a family farm. In 1936, a plague of grasshoppers ate all the crops. Her parents loaded all their belongings into a small trailer behind their Model A Ford, and they drove back to Idaho. They rented a farm in 1937, and eventually bought their own dairy farm, later to become Dari-Dale Farm. It was a tough life, but a good one.

In 1949 she married William (Bill) Smith. Bill was in the Army so they moved several places. They had four children, Julie, Marci, Mike and Steve. They lived in Auburn Washington until 1964 when they divorced, and Barbara packed up the kids and moved to Santa Barbara. We all loved it there. Barbara worked in the college cafeteria while taking accounting courses and eventually got a job at First Federal Savings & Loan (later Mission Federal Savings). She worked her way up to become the head of their computing division. She retired in 1986 and moved to Oregon to be closer to her mom and sister. She worked for several years doing accounting, first at TSI, then at a law firm, then at Willamette Water Co. In 2005, she moved to Ridgecrest California to be closer to Marci, as she started needing more help. Mike & Cindy purchased a house for her to live in, with a big back yard where she could garden; her favorite pastime. In 2018, Mike retired and he and Cindy moved to Montana. They offered to have mom join them, and she was so happy to go, because Montana felt a lot like Idaho where she grew up. She loved being there, with the beautiful mountains, trees and rivers. In 2020, when her mobility issues worsened, she moved into assisted living in Stevensville, into a little room with a gorgeous view. She loved it. She said that getting to pick her food from the menu was like eating at a restaurant for every meal.

Mom loved gardening. She had quite the green thumb, and even in the desert she grew flowers and vegetables. She loved birds! She liked to feed them and would sit for hours watching them. She liked doing crafts and painting ceramics. She also loved visiting with her family. Over the years she got to travel to Hawaii, take a cruise, and several other fun adventures.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Roy & Reta Boggs; her brother Keith Boggs; and her youngest son, Steven Smith. She is survived by her sister, Patricia Schrenk (Larry); one niece, 6 nephews and numerous great & great-great nieces & nephews (she was Aunt Babs). She is also survived by her three children, Julie Thomas; Marci Burnett; and Mike Smith (Cindy). She has 14 grandchildren, Christina (Mike), Michelle (Stan), Kim (John), Diana (Johnny), Debby, Charlie, Brandon (Vivian), Shannon (Brandon), Tori (Tyler), Rhiannon, Shayne (MaryKendall), Chelsea (Steve), Ehren, Hannah (Brennen); 26 great-grandchildren (plus a baby on the way), Hannah, Joshua, Kyle, Alden, Ashlee (Junior), Justin, Ryan (Jean), Megan (Lukas), Jamie (Alex), Trevor, Ashlee (Shane), Garrett, Jacob, Eli, Lauren, Zachary, Elise, Jacob, Hannah, Callie, Carter, Cailyn, Tobin, Tessa, Brecken, and Ryan; and 8 great-great grandchildren (plus one on the way), Jesse, Gabriel, Aniston, Isabel, Skylar, Clayton, Azalynn and Paislynn.

Services will be held at a later date.