Naomi was born on January 1, 1931, and died almost exactly 81 years later on December 27, 2011. She was the youngest of six children born to Opal Booth Smith and Sidney Smith. She was a strong and independent woman.<\/p>\n
Naomi grew up on a sheep ranch in the Madison Valley where she loved trailing sheep and hated packing wool. After graduating from Twin Bridges High she went to nursing school at Montana State College. She worked as a nurse for several years and then became a nurse anaesthetist. She retired in the early 1980’s and went back to school \u2013 this time obtaining an M.S. in media from Colorado State College in Greeley, Colorado. In 1984 she moved to Helena where she opened her business, \u201cPhotosmith,\u201d restoring old photographs.<\/p>\n
Naomi was an outdoors woman. She loved to ski, backpack, hunt, fish and garden. She was an avid reader and an accomplished knitter. Always active in the community, she worked elections and at the genealogy library at the public library, participated in a book club, and was a member of the Senior Singers, Audubon, and Fortnightly. She was a lifelong member of the Church of Christ.<\/p>\n
Naomi was preceded in death by both of her parents, her sister, Juanita, her brothers, James and Sidney, Sidney\u2019s wife, Lenore, and her dear friend Carolyn Larson. She is survived by her brother Oliver, his wife, Edna, their daughters Janice Harbor (husband Johnny and children Caleb, Noah, and Lydia), and Belinda Christensen (husband Brian and children Melissa, Andrea, and James). She is also survived by her sister, Virginia Holton, her husband, George, their daughters, Susan (Kip Kramer), and Wendy (Mike King), and her loyal dog, Molly.<\/p>\n
A special thanks to everyone at Aspen Gardens for their care of, and for, Naomi during the past two years; her friend, Gayle Wold, who visited every week; and to Hospice of Saint Peters who kept her comfortable during the last weeks of her life.<\/p>\n
Cremation has taken place under the care of Retz Funeral Home. A Memorial Service is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Friday, January 6, 2012 at the Church of Christ, 1000 N Ewing St. in Helena, with a reception to follow the service at the church. Naomi\u2019s remains will be buried in the family plot in Twin Bridges, Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 11:00 a.m.<\/p>\n
If desired, memorials can be sent to the Lewis and Clark County Library, the Audubon Society, or an organization of your choice. To offer a condolence to the family or to share a memory of Naomi, please visit www.retzfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/1349152.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":"","event_title5":"","event_date5":"","start_time5":"","end_time5":"","location5":"","address5":"","city5":"","state5":"","zipcode5":"","event_title6":"","event_date":"","start_time6":"","end_time6":"","location6":"","address6":"","city6":"","state6":"","zipcode6":"","event_title7":"","event_date7":"","start_time7":"","end_time7":"","location7":"","address7":"","city7":"","state7":"","zipcode7":"","event_title8":"","event_date8":"","start_time8":"","end_time8":"","location8":"","address8":"","city8":"","state8":"","zipcode8":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/23410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}