Marilyn Ione (Larson) Smith, age 87, formerly of Broomfield, Colorado, passed away peacefully on June 4, 2021.  She will be buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Brookings, South Dakota, on Tuesday, June 15, 2021, next to her loving husband.  Eidsness Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
Marilyn was born in Brookings in 1933 to hard scrabble farmers and raised during the Depression.  They had just enough and wasted nothing. She was the oldest student in a one-room schoolhouse and mentored the younger kids.  Mom was a high achiever academically and was awarded a scholarship to Northwestern University, which was a high honor for a woman in the 1950s.
Unfortunately, she was only able to attend one year, because expenses were too high.  Upon meeting her husband, they settled in DeKalb, Illinois, where she raised her children and completed her master’s degree in history at Northern Illinois University.  Mom had careers in finance, real estate, and teaching.  She volunteered and had keen interests in politics and anthropology.  They eventually retired to Spearfish, SD, and enjoyed the beautiful Black Hills.  They travelled and had adventures in the Mediterranean and Europe.
After her husband passed in 2000,  she relocated to Broomfield, CO, to be near her daughter.  Mom continued to travel and cruised around the world into the Asian Pacific. Mom loved good food, red wine and chocolate. She passed surrounded by good, caring people with her children at her side. She will be missed.
She is survived by her sister, Shirley Williams; her children, Rachel L. Smith and Craig R. Smith; and her grandchildren, Helena S. Smith and Kara S. Smith.
Marilyn is preceded in death by her husband, Richard Bland Smith, and her parents, Matti and Melvin Larson.