Obituary for Kendra Smith

Kendra Smith

December 22, 1949 – September 26, 2023

Kendra Elaine Smith passed away September 26, 2023, in Lewisville, Texas, with her family by her side. She was 73 years of age. Viewing will be from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM, with family visitation from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, October 6, 2023 at Trout Funeral Home. Kendra’s funeral service will be on Saturday, October 7, at 10:090 AM, at Trout Funeral Home Chapel. Arrangements are under the direction of Trout Funeral Home & Crematory, 505 W. Grand Ave, Ponca City, OK, 74601.

Kendra was born on December 22, 1949, to Eugene Otis and Lois Elaine Silkey in Syracuse, New York. Kendra graduated from Ponca City High School, having been a Dynamiter, a member of Tri-Hi-Y service organization and secretary of the Yorick Troupe there. She also graduated from Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa. Kendra not only enjoyed camping with her family by lakes every summer, but also spent afternoons at Lake Ponca with many friends, waterskiing and hanging out. During her school years, she also enjoyed being an active member of Second Baptist Church.

After marrying her first husband, Richard Hume, they moved to Stillwater to start a family. They had two daughters: first came Carissa, and three years later, Alison. While in Stillwater, Kendra worked for the Chamber of Commerce for many years, but because she had a lifelong passion for antiques, she opened The Menagerie, an antique gift shop in downtown Stillwater.

After she and Richard separated, Kendra and the girls moved back to Ponca City to be close to family, and there she was a long-time administrative assistant at Conoco. She eventually fell in love with, and married Bruce Doggett, who tragically passed away in his sleep, causing her a great deal of anguish. As time passed, through mutual friends, she met the love of her life, Gary Smith, marrying him in 1990.

These two lived life to the fullest. In 1992, after they became empty nesters, they sold the house, packed their belongings, and moved to a little house with a pool and palm trees with a fabulous view of the ocean on a mountain in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, where they spent eight years of sun and sand fun, even learning to scuba dive. Kendra often reminisced about all kinds of adventures they had in the Islands. Ever so, missing their family, they immediately made the decision to move back, once the first grandchild was on the way, and that led the two to Texas. While in Texas, Kendra enjoyed spending time with all her grandchildren and giving them anything and everything they asked for! They all loved her dearly and were all at her side before she passed away.

Her hobbies were not only centered in her love of her grandchildren, but she also loved to rescue dogs, who, in turn, “rescued her back” by protecting her and joyfully playing for hours then napping by her side. Her latest two were Layla and Sadie. Kendra also enjoyed growing succulents, and had an entire bedroom devoted to her “garden.” She probably had a couple hundred little pots of succulents under her grow lights on shelves in that room. She will be dearly missed by her family and the many friends with whom she had kept in touch.

Kendra was preceded in death by her grandparents, her parents, and her three husbands, Richard Hume, Bruce Doggett and then Gary Smith, who passed away in 2017.

She is survived by her two daughters, Carissa Arutunoff of Tulsa, and Alison Maxson, and Alison’s husband Tyler, of Flower Mound, Texas, also her two brothers and their spouses, Terry and his wife, Nancy Williams Silkey of Ponca City, and Mark and his wife, Janet Goodman Silkey of Charles Town, West Virginia. In addition, Gary’s children, daughter Paige Bilyeu and husband Jeff, son Jeff Smith and wife Rachel, grandchildren, Lyndi Maxson, Macie Maxson, Taylor Deleon and husband Blake, Alexandria Arutunoff, Ariel Bilyeu, Tabitha Hernandez and husband Alberto, and Madeleine Bilyeu, Carson Smith, Nicholas Smith, Austen Burkett, Brein Burkett, and her great-grandchildren, Stella, Sienna, Ezra, and Cristiano.

Source: Trout Funeral Home