Wanda Smith

Wanda Smith

Wanda I. Smith, 84, passed away December 15, 2024, after losing her battle to cancer.

Her son, Ken, vowed to bring Mom home so she would be surrounded by family and friends. He and his spouse were successful with that promise by bringing her to their house for her final days. A Graveside Service will be held on Saturday, January 4, 2024 – 11:00 a.m. at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Baker City.  Friends are invited to join the family following the service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church on Hughes Lane.

Being born September 19, 1940, Wanda Irene Moyes was the third child born to June and Maurice Moyes. She was born in Ontario, Oregon. The family moved shortly thereafter to Baker where she was raised and graduated from Baker High School in 1959.

Wanda went to work as a carhop in Salem just after she graduated. She went to live with her sister Phyllis upon completion of high school. She moved up to a counter person and was being taught to cook when the business was sold and she lost her job. She had made friends and got a recommendation to work at Evelyn's Restaurant in downtown Salem, where she continued to wait tables but was also taught more about cooking.

She had been married three times – first to Richard Arnold in 1960 and they had one daughter, Rechelle. In 1963 she married Walter Bolt who was with the Air Force stationed in Baker City. They had one daughter, Carol. In 1969 she married her last husband Kenneth Smith who died in a work accident just three months after Wanda gave birth to their son Kenneth Joshua Daniel Smith.

Before starting work at the Forest Service, Wanda had held many jobs including waitressing, working at a dry-cleaners, cooking and selling Avon.

By 1975 she began her career with the Forest Service having got on a Win Training Program, and she stayed with the Forest Service until retiring in September 2005. Wanda had a 30-year career with the US Forest Service.

Wanda never remarried. She raised her three children to her best ability.

She became involved with Boy Scouts when Ken was in Tiger Cub Scouts. She tried to go to as many of his functions as she could. Later when he got into Boy Scouts, she became as Assistant Boy Scout Leader. And she was able to take the troop to Camp Meriwether one year for a week and to Camp Fife at Mt. Rainer the following year.

Wanda not only was involved with Ken's scouting while still working full-time, but started taking care of her mother, June Hulick, after stepfather Millard Hulick had passed in March of 1990. Her plate was full.

Yet the whole time, people at work got to know that Wanda made zucchini bread. Everyone liked it so much that she was able to sell her loaves giving herself a little Christmas money. Her zucchini bread was bought by locals but would be shipped to the buyers' families and friends throughout the USA. Her bread has made it as far as Chile, South America and Iran!

She enjoyed dancing. But her most favorite thing to do was to create crafts. She made angel pins and boxes to keep them in and gave many away. She also enjoyed making her own cards by stamping. She enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren, even helping them out in Cub/Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. She even painted the Boy Scout Troop 433 emblem on their meeting room’s wall.

Wanda loved roses and her favorite color was blue.

She was preceded in death by her parents; daughter Rechelle Arnold; granddaughter Alexis Drake; brothers Robert Moyes and Norman Moyes and sister Phyllis (Moyes) McDowell.

Wanda is survived by daughter Carol and husband Craig Davis of Baker City; son Kenneth J.D. Smith and wife, Alice of La Grande, Oregon; brothers Phillip Moyes and Nathan Irvin;

sister Becky and Roy Shorts of Waldon, Arkansas; grandchildren Daniel Drake and Kendra Smith and numerous nieces and nephews.

For those who would like to make a memorial donation in memory of Wanda, the family suggests a charity of your choice, through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home & CS  - PO Box 543 Halfway, Oregon 97834. Online condolences may be shared at www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com