Barbara Davis Smoot, our devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend, passed away at home at age 94 on May 11, 2015. Barbara was born May 9th, 1921 in Salt Lake City to Rhea Freeze and Dr. Joseph Hyrum Davis. She spent what she recalled as the perfect childhood growing up with her only sister Marian in their Harvard Avenue home. She attended Roosevelt Jr. High School and then East High School where she made dear friends that have lasted throughout her life. She attended and graduated from the University of Utah where she affiliated with Chi Omega sorority and was active on campus as president of the Associated Women Students.
In 1942, she married her college sweetheart Wendell M. Smoot Jr., a man she had known since junior high, and accompanied him in his military training to Ft. Roberts, California, and Ft. Lewis, Washington, prior to his leaving for France during World War II. Following the war, Barbara and Wendell established a home in Salt Lake City and focused on raising their five children.
No one could have been more content in her role as wife and homemaker as Barbara. Blessed with superb homemaking skills, she knew how to keep her family well fed - well nurtured and well dressed, especially with fashionable hand-knit sweaters - a Barbara specialty. In a family of sports lovers, she proved herself the best sport of all, spending countless hours watching her athletic children throw a football or discus, toss a tennis ball or schuss down a ski slope. Once she became an empty nester, she delighted and surprised us all when she took up tennis herself, having learned the game cheering on her children. She loved and took great pride as well in all her posterity as they filled missions, sought educational opportunities, married and began families of their own.
Gracious and still beautiful at 94, she possessed a marvelously infectious laugh, a special call that was uniquely hers, a wonderful sense of humor, a grateful heart and a generous spirit. She was well acquainted with good books, taught with a quiet faith and made family and friends her lifelong priorities. Well traveled, she visited almost every continent but counted it a blessing to call Utah her home. She loved the outdoors and spent memorable years with family and friends at a family cabin on the Snake River in Island Park, Idaho, where walks in the woods, day trips into Yellowstone Park, raft rides down Box Canyon and or just sitting quietly under the pines listening to the wind in the trees were the rewards of a summer day well spent.
A faithful and devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she was a Relief Society counselor in the Monument Park 12th Ward among her many callings, served with her husband on a non-proselyting mission in Liberty Stake and enjoyed more than thirteen years as a hostess in the Church Office Building. She loved the Tabernacle Choir and their incomparable music and when her husband was president of that organization, she was their dedicated musical patron, never missing a concert for nearly two decades as they traveled the world and sang to audiences here at home. In the community, she volunteered her time to the Utah Symphony Guild and the University of Utah Alumni Emeritus Board for three years. In addition to her family and church, she truly relished the sociality of good friends in her many associations: the Emeritabs, Dinner Set, Classics Club and especially her Monday bridge group.
She was preceded in death by her husband Wendell, with whom she is joyously reunited, and her sister Marian. She is survived by her children: Wendell M. III (Monetta) of San Diego, Margaret, David, John (Jan) of San Diego and Mary S. Mather (Jeff) of St. George, Utah; 14 grandchildren; 26 great grandchildren, and two nieces. Deep appreciation goes to special women - Angie, Mauri, Analee, Mindy, Chaunie, Pam, as well as Envision and CareSource hospice - for their tender care.
A viewing for family and friends will be held Friday evening May 15th at the Monument Park 17th Ward , 2795 E. Crestview Drive (1100 South) from 6-8 p.m. and Saturday morning 10:45 - 11:45 a.m. prior to the funeral service at noon. Internment in the Salt Lake City cemetery. Online condolences at Larkincares.com
