LaVonne Smith

WAYLAND ? LaVonne R. Smith, 70, of Winfield, died Thursday, Jan. 31, 2015, in Sunrise Terrace Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Winfield.

A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, at Bethel Mennonite Church in Wayland with the Rev. Ryan Dexter officiating. Burial of the cremains will be at a later date in Idaho. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service, from 10 to 11 a.m., Tuesday at the church. A memorial fund has been established for Sunrise Terrace Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Winfield. The Beatty Funeral Home in Wayland is handling the arrangements.

LaVonne Rae (Reed) Smith was born Jan. 9, 1945, in Orfino, Idaho, the daughter of Glen and Ollie (Schwartz) Reed. She married Leonard Brown. The couple later divorced. She married Larry Smith.

She graduated from Clearwater Valley High School in Kooskie, Idaho. She was a Certified Nursing Assistant and was employed at numerous nursing homes across the nation. She was a member of the Bethel Mennonite Church and enjoyed sharing her faith and crocheting. She was a very creative person who began crocheting animals and figures, without a pattern, as a hobby, and that hobby later grew into a mission. The animals, including lots of monkeys, were sent to children all over the world.

Surviving are one son, Darren Brown and wife Megan of Wayland; 16 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; and one brother, Ronnie Reed of Arkansas.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Larry Smith; three children, Richard, Bradley, and Kimberly Brown; and one brother, Ed Reed.