PORTLAND – If you ever met Kay Smith, no matter where or when, she remembered you. Your name, your life story, the small details you wouldn’t expect anyone to recall. But she did. Understanding, accepting and infinitely compassionate, Kay wore her humanity on the surface, always. Simply put, people were everything to her.

Katherine Anne (Arnold) Smith came into the world on Nov. 18, 1937, in Danvers, Mass., and grew up in Cuba, N.Y. She left the world peacefully, surrounded by her loving husband and children on March 1, 2020, in Portland, after a years-long bout with dementia.

Kay was a high school cheerleader and prom queen, then undergraduate at Elmira College. While still in New York, she met and married her husband of more than 50 years, Charles Smith. The couple moved to Maryland in 1966, where they raised three children.

Kay had a wonderful artistic eye and a beautiful singing voice. She loved anything social, days at the beach lying in the sun and body surfing the waves, and all of her children’s and grandchildren’s events, sporting, artistic or otherwise. Of course, Kay’s family was her focus, her purpose, and the joy of her life. Because of that, she was the emotional cornerstone for everyone who loved her.

Kay’s family will miss her terribly. Her husband; daughters, Katie Zimmer and Liz Moss Civiello, and son, Charlie; her sisters, Nancy and Sara Arnold, sons-in-law, Andy Zimmer and Mark Civiello; and, of course, her grandchildren, Hannah Zimmer, and Max and Ava Civiello.

Kay’s viewing is from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 5, at A.T. Hutchins Funeral Home, 660 Brighton Avenue, Portland. Kay’s celebration of life is from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Elizabeth Moss Galleries at 251 U.S. Route One, Falmouth.

Please visit www.athutchins.com to view Katherine’s tribute page and to sign her online guest book.

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