FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Patricia Ann Smidt passed away peacefully Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019, at home of Alzheimer’s disease. A private memorial service was held Aug. 18, at Sequoyah United Methodist Church.

A public celebration of Pat’s life will take place 7 p.m. Oct. 25, 2019, at Community Chapel, 618 Co Rd P60, in Lakota, Iowa. In honor of Pat’s love for cooking, we will have a potluck meal from 6-7 p.m. It would be appreciated if you could bring a dish to share.

Her ashes will be interred with her husband at the National Cemetery in Fayetteville, Ark. We mourn the loss of her earthly body and rejoice in the reunion of her spirit and new body with the love of her life in heaven.

She was born Oct. 18, 1928, in Lakota, Iowa. Her widowed mother single-handedly raised 10 children and maintained the family farm. Pat came from a family of strong women whose grit she inherited.

Pat attended Lakota High School, where she participated in music, drama and journalism, graduating in 1946. She was a cheerleader for the championship women’s basketball team.

She married Peter Smidt in 1947. Together, they raised seven children on a farm near Lakota, Iowa.

Pat’s gardening, canning and preserving fed their growing family. She was a skilled seamstress who made beautiful dresses for her daughters and herself and suits and ties for the men in her family. Her labors of love instilled in her children the value of hard work and independence.

Pat was a woman of strong faith and a serious student of the Bible. She lived her faith by serving others. One of the joys of her life was working as a cook for the Lake Okoboji Bible Conference.

She loved reading, writing, sewing, playing games, traveling and spending time with her children and grandchildren.

In 1983, Pete and Pat left the farm and moved to Fairmont, Minn. They retired to Bella Vista, Ark., in 1997 and moved to Fayetteville in 2006. These were some of the best years of their lives filled with family, new friends and adventures. Her family was the joy of her life.

She is survived by her sister, Sharon (Wil) McGregor of San Diego, Calif.; her children, Jack (Carol Jo) of Buffalo Center, Iowa, David (Helen) of Spirit Lake, Iowa, Mark of Fayetteville, Ark., Mary Hillburg (Daryl) of Algona, Iowa, Lois of Boone, Iowa, Philip (Jennifer) of Lynnwood, Wash., Jared (Laura) of Gig Harbor, Wash.; 15 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Peter Smidt; her father, Emil Mittag; her mother, Eva; and eight siblings.

Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.

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