Eva Angeline Smith July 26, 1938 – September 5th, 2026
Eva Angeline Smith was born on July 26, 1938, in Red Lake, MN, to Earl Clyde Brown and Ina Cook (Brown) Nelson. She passed away on Saturday, September 5, 2026.
Eva met her husband, Darwin G. Smith, while working for Honeywell in Minneapolis. They were married for 62 years, prior to Darwin’s passing in 2024. Darwin and Eva started their family in Grand Marais, MN, and relocated to Kelso, WA, on January 1, 1967.
Eva was a dedicated homemaker with many craft interests, including crocheting, knitting, sewing, and embroidery, often making thoughtful gifts for her family. She was known for her baking, particularly her delicious cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, and pies, with strawberry rhubarb being a favorite, always making it with great pride and with the rhubarb she had grown. Eva also had a yearly vegtable garden, canning her harvest for year long enjoyment.
Football season brought Eva real joy, especially watching Notre Dame games, often while working on a jigsaw puzzle. She carried that same enthusiasm into the holidays, where her wild rice and giblet gravy were a must on her holiday dinner table. Christmas was her favorite season of all, filled with ornaments made, collected, or gifted to her over the years. She would spend days making homemade candy and cookies getting ready for her annual Christmas Eve gatherings.
Eva was a very social person, described by her eldest daughter, Linda, as a “genius at conversation,” and enjoyed striking up conversations with anyone, anywhere. She loved to travel, visiting, Canada, New Zeland, Austraila, Alaska, Hawaii, and especially enjoyed road trips back to Minnesota to visit family and life long friends. Even as travel grew more difficult in her later years, she still made the trips to Wyoming and California to see her great-grandchildren, Rhett and Miles, shortly after they were born. Eva loved and was deeply proud of her family, who will miss her greatly.
Eva was preceded in death by her husband, Darwin G. Smith; her parents, Ina Cook (Brown) Nelson and Earl C. Brown Sr.; and her siblings: Carol Bianco, Roberta VandenBerg, and Wilma Livingston.
Eva is survived by her children: Linda Smith (Richard Lemert) of Eugene, OR; Laura Thurman (Bradley); Duane Smith (Jaci) of Kelso, WA; and Leah Melika (Morad) of Los Angeles, CA. Her grandchildren include Ryan Lemert-Smith, Corey (Idys), Garrett, and Conner Thurman, Vincent, Casey (Stephen Sorg), and Max Melika. She is also survived by her great-grandsons Rhett Thurman and Miles Sorg, her best friend Carol Krieder, and extended family who regarded her as their grandmother and great-grandmother.
Memorial is scheduled for
October 10, 2026 at 1pm
AWPPW Hall
724 15th Ave.
Longview, WA 98632
