Lonni Smith

Lonni Sue Goodwill (Smith), age 63, passed away February 1, 2020.

She was born December 4th, 1956 in South Dakota on the air force base outside of Rapid City. As a child she traveled extensively with her Air Force family, including Libya (which ended in a dramatic evacuation via cargo plane to Germany).

As a young woman, she attended Business College. After her mother's death, she and her father moved to Omaha, where she met her future husband Lindon Smith at a church singles group. In this group, faith in Christ was the focus but many marriages also found their beginnings there. Lindon and Lonni were the first couple to be married, after about a year - at least four other couples also married who met at the singles group.

Naomi and Gabriel quickly joined the family; Lonni loved being a mother and fully committed herself to raising strong Christian children. She was also a voracious reader, and so skilled in bargain hunting that she taught all of her gal friends how to bargain shop as well. Some of Lonni's best finds were at book fairs, craft fairs, thrift stores, antique shops, and quilting shops.

After the children grew, Lonni worked first as a church secretary and later at the nuclear power plant in Brownville, Nebraska. At the plant she was part of the Y2K project, active in Toastmasters, and later her talents as a teacher were recognized when she was asked to teach official power plant classes.

In her last years, she most enjoyed spending time with Lindon, cuddling with her cat Kismet, and looking at photos of her grandson Felix.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Audrey Goodwill; father-in-law, Carl Smith; sister, Laura.

Lonni is survived by her husband of 37 years, Lindon Smith; children, Naomi Smith (Josef O’Hearn) and Gabriel Smith (Laurel Burk); grandson, Felix Smith; father, Raymond Goodwill (Lita); mother-in-law, Norma Jean Smith; sisters-in-law and their spouses, nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of other family and friends.

Visitation is 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday February 4, 2020 at the Hoy-Kilnoski Funeral Home. Funeral service is 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday at the funeral home. Interment is in Westlawn Hillcrest Cemetery. The family will direct memorials.