Louise Smith

Louise V. (Meeks) Smith, 89, of Kalispell, died April 26, 2024, under hospice care at the home of her daughter and son-in-law in Whitefish. She was surrounded by many of her children and grandchildren, who sang her to Heaven with “Amazing Grace” and “Sailing Towards Home” as she took her last breaths. We can imagine that our Dad/Grandpa Gene met her there with a red rose in his hand, as was his custom during their 68 years of marriage. 

She was born July 29, 1934, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the second daughter of Chester and Earline (Miller) Meeks. It was not an easy time or place to raise a family of six children, and in 1945 they moved to join some family in Kalispell, hoping for a better life. Louise finished eighth grade at Demersville School and graduated from Flathead High School in 1953. During those years she worked as a young waitress at her Grandpa Wong’s café for .25 cents an hour, Phil’s Silver Grill for .35 cents plus tips, and also at the Mayflower Café and banquet room.  

Louise first met her future husband Gene (Eugene Smith) in 1952 when he came to Kalispell from Oklahoma to visit his sister, who was the pastor’s wife at the family’s church, where Louise was very involved. Fortunately, Louise knew a truly good man when she saw him, and they were married on June 25, 1954. They lived in the Flathead Valley throughout their marriage and raised their three children in Smith Valley west of Kalispell.