Valborg Margaret Vadheim Smith, 50-year resident of Willmar, Minn. and 10-year resident of Marquette, Mich., died peacefully May 25, 2014 at home, cared for by her family, Private Duty Aides, and Hospice R.N.s from Upper Peninsula Home Health Hospice and Private Duty. Val was 100^3/4 years old, born Sept. 4, 1913 to Christine Breen Vadheim and Dr. Alfred Lyman Vadheim in the prairie town of Tyler, Minn. She was able to join in reciting the Lord’s Prayer and 23rd Psalm until the last weeks of her life, when Pastors Dave Van Kley and Amanda Kossow of Messiah Lutheran Church carried these words for her. She died of old age and exhaustion following a chest cold.

Val’s formal education was in Minnesota, graduating from Tyler High School, then attending St. Olaf College for one year in preparation for nurses’ training (R.N.) at Fairview Hospital in Minneapolis, which she completed in 1935. She met her husband, Dr. Lloyd A. Smith (deceased 1991), at Fairview. They were married Nov. 21, 1936 in Val’s parents’ home in Tyler, by Reverend Nesheim of First English Lutheran Church. They practiced medicine for a time in a small upstairs clinic in nearby Balaton and in Tyler. Val remembered vividly the Tyler tornado of August 1918, which destroyed her father’s downtown clinic and five bed hospital. Her father garnered support from the surrounding areas and rebuilt the hospital, where Val eventually became nursing supervisor. The Hospital became the A.L. Vadheim Memorial Hospital, and today is the Tyler Healthcare Center/Avera.

In 1953, Val and Lloyd moved to Willmar, Minn., where they lived the rest of his life. She was nursing supervisor at the Willmar Nursing Home for many years and Lloyd practiced medicine at the Willmar State Hospital. They were members of Vinje Lutheran Church, where Val’s activity included the Vinje Christmas Bazaar, for which buyers came from Dayton’s department store in Minneapolis to purchase for resale the beautiful Christmas handwork of Val and her Vinje friends. Frequently a leader, Val volunteered at a Shelter Workshop for disadvantaged individuals, at Rice Memorial Hospital as a One-on-One cancer counselor, as an R.N. assistant for school vaccinations, and as a Boy Scout Den Mother and Girl Scout mother. She was an active member of Ladies Aid, a hat club, a bridge club, community theater, and judged flower arrangements at the county fair. She was an antiquer and basket weaver. In summer, she entertained her weaving group at her and Lloyd’s little cottage on Diamond Lake. In town, she entertained State Hospital women employees at Christmastime with her homemade cookies, candies, tea, coffee, and elegant table settings, and she and Lloyd entertained colleagues and friends on the 4th of July. At 85, she walked the Brooklyn Bridge both ways. At Val’s 90th birthday family reunion, her niece Gretchen thanked Val for being someone that could hold individuals and groups together during very trying times.

Val and Lloyd were blessed with two children, Dr. Richard V. Smith and Suzanne M. Harding, and later blessed with two more children, niece Robbin A. Maves and her brother, nephew Robert A. Maves, D.D.S. Val and Lloyd often spoke of their daughters and sons.

Val’s last residence in Willmar was Sunrise Village Independent Living, for seven years. In September 2003, age 90, on her own initiative, she gave her car to a grandchild, her driver’s license to permanent storage, and moved to Marquette, Mich., to live with her daughter, Suzanne, son-in-law Howard Harding, and granddaughter, Sophia. She was sad to leave Willmar, and missed her friends and the lay of the land, but within weeks she had joined the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) knitters and knit quilt assemblers. She had her hair done once a week and was happy driving along on errands and pick-ups and drop-offs of her busy 12-year-old granddaughter, Sophie. She chose St. Mark’s Lutheran Church because it looked so much like the church of her childhood and young adult years in Tyler, and it was Lutheran. She joined St. Mark’s quilting group and cherished her friends there. Years later, she followed Pastor Van Kley to Messiah Lutheran Church, the wonderful guardian of her spirit for the remainder of her life. She was grateful for the pastors’ many visits, and notes, both written and sung, that she received from church members. Val said she had plenty to do, that her recovery time was much longer than it used to be. In the first years at Marquette, she flew with the Hardings to visit her son in California, and drove with her daughter to Prairie Farm, Wis. to find her Grandfather Breen’s farm.

Val was preceded in death by her parents, Christine and Alfred; stepmother, Gladys L. Donovan Vadheim; siblings, Dr. James L. and Mrs. Jeanne Vadheim, Dr. Robert A., Sr., and Mrs. Anitra L. Vadheim Maves, and Dr. Robert H. Vadheim; stepsister and brother in-law, Mr. Duane G. and Mrs. Dorothy M. Donovan Rude; husband, Lloyd; son, Robert, Jr and daughter-in-law, Lucy Parra Smith. Val is survived by her children, Richard, Robbin A. Maves Rendahl, and Suzanne; daughters-in-law, Linda Maves Maguire and Terry Karro Maves; godchild, Alfred L. Rude; grandchildren, Stephanie Smith Salky, Dr. Chelsea Smith, Dr. Ryan Maves, Brenden Maves, Brenda Rendahl Dellaneva, Sophia M. Harding, and Connor Rude; great grandchildren, Maya and Samantha Salky, Lily and Landon Maves, Astrid, Robert and Jonathan Maves, and Haley and Anthony Dellaneva; and nieces and nephews, Anitra, Gretchen, James, Connie, Tim, and Nancy. She is also survived by her nurses’ training friend of 70 years, Gladys Schennum, soon to be 102 years old.