Kari Lynn (Hansen) Smith

She met and fell in love at a young age. While one beautiful love story, when it came to Kari, nothing was shy of abnormal. At 14 years old, she was met as the target of a marshmallow launcher by her one and only, Reed, and the rest was history. They fell in love quickly and hard. You could never imagine one without the other. They moved their life to Oregon and in typical Kari-fashion, she quickly became pregnant with their first, only to have four more in the next few years. It was just like her to have crazy plans to get married quickly and have kids quickly, we just weren’t ready to lose her so quickly too.

She filled the voids in the lives of those who knew her. You never felt alone if you knew Kari. She was a force to be reckoned with, mighty in all she did. And she loved her family very, very much. They were her everything and she dedicated her life to prove that. She was the best listening ear and her go-to saying was “go fight win” it was the epitome of all she was. We miss her so much. She will be remembered as the endearing, compassionate, magnetic, warm, brave, spontaneous, and selfless person that she was. She would want us to remember her through song, she’d tell her kids “Children, don’t stop dancing.” she would tell her husband to have a little “Patience” and she would ask “Who cares if one more light goes out?” and we would respond. “Well, I do.”

We know she’s here with us. We feel her everywhere. And just as songs were one of her many ways of communicating, we know dad’s song to her goes a little something like this:

If you get there before I do, don't give up on me

I'll meet you when my chores are through

I don't know how long I'll be

But I'm not gonna let you down, darling wait and see

And between now and then, 'til I see you again

I'll be loving you

Love, me

She is survived by her husband and the ultimate love of her life, Reed; her children, Trevyn (Erica) Daryk (Jo) Danyelle (Mitch) Mytchell, and Mckenzy (Treston) as well as her many grandchildren