Carol A. Smith

Carol A. (Gordon) Smith, 69, of Columbia City, Ind., passed away at 12:27 p.m. Tuesday, November 10, 2015 at Parkview Whitley Hospital. Born November 4, 1946 in Columbia City, she was the daughter of Leonard and Florence (Collar) Gordon.

Carol grew up in rural Columbia City and helped her family with their large garden. She had an appreciation for the hard work that it took to have the garden and enjoyed canning at the end of the season with her family. She graduated from Columbia City Joint High School with the Class of 1966. After graduating, she took a job with GE, which would become Lockheed Martin and BAE. Carol worked a total of 30 years, retiring in 1996.

She remained close with her family and she wanted to pass on the lessons of hard work to her children. They would help her and her father remodel homes that he had for rentals. In the fall of 1992, Carol met a man on a blind date at Richards Restaurant. He would turn out to be the man of her dreams and the following year, they would be married. On July 21, 1993, she married David W. Smith at Zion Lutheran Church in Columbia City. They soon moved to Big Lake, where they currently reside.

She loved spending time with her family. She supported her grandchildren in whatever they did; whether it was watching them play football, to going to plays, or just watching them enjoy the lake and their beachfront. She loved the lake and the activities that accompanied it. Besides having the place where the grandchildren loved to be at, she enjoyed fishing, boating and even drag racing their boat, Mommys Money with David. She was a supporter of the Big Lake Association and helped out with any fund raisers they would have to raise money for the yearly firework show. She would get involved with the cornhole tournaments, the boat poker run and the kids fishing derby. Along with the love of wanting to have a nice lake, she also was involved with her husband in The Watershed Foundation, which was to help improve the quality of lakes.

When her husband David starting driving semis, she would join him on long trips around the country. The two traveled to almost every state except Hawaii, Alaska and Florida. They came close to taking a load of drinking water to Florida during the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but they were diverted to dropping the water off in Georgia. Another unforgettable trip was while they were taking a load of empty pop cans from South Carolina to New Hampshire. As they approached Washington D.C., she mentioned she had never had the opportunity to see our Nations Capital and David wanted to show her around. Due to some detours, it took almost 3 extra hours to get the semi back on the road to finish their trip.

Another favorite time of year for Carol was Christmas time. She enjoyed decorating and making it a special time for family. Its the memorys she made with her family that will be missed the most.

She is survived by her loving husband of 24 years, David Smith; daughter, Monica Bollinger of Columbia City; son, Dale (Tonya) Nix of Ft. Wayne; brother, Wayne (Jannelle) Gordon of Columbia City; sister, Sharon Coffelt of Columbia City; twin step-sons, Chris and Brad Smith of Auburn; and her four grandchildren, Brittany Bollinger, Hayden Nix, Jackson Smith and Austin Nix . She was preceded in death by parents; brother, Rex Gordon; and brother-in-law, Dale Coffelt.

A memorial service will be 7 p.m., Friday, November 13, 2015 at DeMoney-Grimes, a Life Story Funeral Home with visitation one hour prior. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in her honor to The Watershed Foundation.