Michelene Rae Smith (nee Hurn), of Sun City, AZ, previously of St. Louis, MO, passed away on January 11, 2018 at her daughter’s home in St Louis. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 20 at 1:30pm at Zion United Methodist Church, (1603 Union Road, St Louis, MO 63125). Visitation will be from 11:30am-1:30pm, prior to the service. Please send any donations to Sun City 4 Paws Rescue, Inc or St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Michelene was born on May 14, 1947 to the late Raymond and DeVonne (nee Rambo) Hurn. Because her father was in the Air Force, she travelled all over the country, as well as Panama and Brazil, as a child. In 1968 she married the late Omar Thomas Smith, Jr, they had one daughter and they divorced in 1975. She had a short marriage in 1982 and 1983, after which she declared that marriage was not for her. The only love of her life after that was her Golden retriever, Rocky, who was with her from 2000-2010.

Michelene is survived by her daughter, Carrie (Steve) Rotty and her grandchildren, Raymond, Rebecca and Ryan. She also leaves behind her sister, Ann Giles (James) McCauley, her niece, Jennifer (John) Kirkpatrick and her great niece, Jailyn and great nephews, Justin and Jordan.

Family was important to her. She, often attended important school functions and plays, as well as eating dinner with the family and attending birthday parties and sports games when she lived in St Louis. After moving to Arizona, Michelene talked and text regularly with her daughter and grandchildren, as well as visiting them and bringing them to visit her.

She strongly believed you should never stop learning. Michelene graduated from Douglas MacArthur High School in San Antonio, TX in 1965. Throughout her adult years she took many classes, in subjects ranging from cake decorating to religion and horticulture to photography, never really caring if she received college credit or not. She often stressed the importance of education to her daughter, and later her grandchildren. In 2005 her hard work paid off and she received her degree from St Louis Community College. She kept her brain active in any way she could-as recently as a month before she died she was doing the daily crossword and sudoku puzzles on the paper.

Although she wasn’t “religious” all of her life, Michelene had a strong bond with the Methodist Church. In Sun City, AZ she attended First United Methodist Church and she was a member of Zion United Methodist Church in St Louis. She worked with a UMC women’s group in both cities. Her relationship with God was very important to her.

Another passion of Michelene’s was fitness and exercise. Through her adult years she often had a membership (and used it) to a local gym or regularly took classes like yoga, jazzercise, line dancing, tai chi and karate. She was a certified aerobics teacher and, later, a certified personal trainer.

Through the years, Michelene had a diverse work experience. She worked at a Chevrolet dealership, Edward D Jones, the EEOC and the United States Army (as a civilian, not in the military). She retired in 2001.

While she wasn’t really a sports fan, she loved the St Louis Cardinals baseball team and continued to support them after she moved to Arizona. She also cheered for the St Louis Blues, despite the fact she knew nothing about hockey and wasn’t interested.

A bit over four years ago Michelene moved to Sun City, AZ, where, until recently, she lived an active, happy life with many friends and groups she belonged to. She really enjoyed her time there and was sad to leave.