Louise S. Smith (1936 – 2025)

The family of Louise S. “Lou” Smith is saddened to announce her death. She died on Sunday, April 6, 2025, after a brief illness. Civic leader, scientist, computer expert, athlete, musician, caring friend, and above all wise matriarch — she was a remarkable woman.

Louise was born on June 17, 1936, to Eva Anna Gramm Schmoyer and the Rev. Dr. Paul E. Schmoyer in Pottstown, Pa. She graduated from Kutztown (Pa.) High School as valedictorian in 1954. She then attended Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pa., earning bachelor’s (1958) and master’s (1960) of science degrees in bacteriology, with an undergraduate minor in chemistry.

While at Penn State, she met her future husband, Wayne Smith, a chemistry graduate student. They were married in a ceremony performed by her father on November 25, 1959, in Reading, Pa.

After living in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey, where she campaigned to end discrimination in housing, she and Wayne moved to Waterville in 1967 with two young children; a third would be born two years later.

There being few jobs for bacteriologists in Maine at the time, Louise devoted herself to raising her family and volunteering in civic organizations, especially the American Association of University Women, where she was first elected president of the Waterville branch, then president of the Maine division, and ultimately vice president for New England. She also served on various local boards, including the Waterville Public Library, the local YMCA, and the Waterville Housing Authority. Years later, after Rotary International started admitting women, she joined the Waterville Rotary Club and was an active member for over 20 years.

She was active in municipal politics as well. In 1975, she became the first woman elected to Waterville’s city council following a 1967 charter change that replaced the city’s 21-person, bicameral legislature with a seven-member city council. Two years later, she became the first Democratic woman to run for mayor of Waterville, coming in second in a three-way race at the Democratic city caucus.

Louise was proud to be a member of the United Church of Christ since its inception. For over four decades she served the First Congregational Church, U.C.C., of Waterville in various roles, including as deacon, trustee, Sunday school teacher, and member of the Prudential Committee.

In the mid-1970s, Louise started a new career in computer science, taking courses at Thomas College (and later teaching computer classes there) and at the University of Maine. She later worked in computer programming, systems analysis, and total quality management for Keyes Fibre, Scott Paper, Cianbro, Central Maine Power, and the City of Waterville.

Always athletic, she played field hockey, basketball, and softball in high school. Throughout her life, she enjoyed playing tennis, swimming, and taking long walks.

Musically gifted, she started playing piano at age 4 and continued to do so until a few weeks before her death. During childhood, she also took up violin and oboe, playing the latter instrument in the Colby Symphony Orchestra in the 1970s and also giving lessons.

Throughout her full and happy life, Louise loved to laugh and relished spending time with her family and many friends, showing her love through her creative and innovative cooking. Her favorite time of year was Christmas, when she spent weeks baking a variety of traditional treats from old family recipes. She was an avid and intellectually curious reader with a talent for problem solving and systems thinking. In retirement, she designed a new home where she enjoyed entertaining family and friends. She and Wayne also traveled frequently in the U.S. and occasionally abroad. She continued to play tennis, swim, take long walks, solve puzzles, play games (such as bridge), read, garden, and play piano regularly until the end of her life. In the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, she believed that “a [person] should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of [their] life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful that God has implanted in the human soul.” In the end, though, regardless of her many accomplishments and wide-ranging interests, family came first.

She is predeceased by her parents, brother Robert, and niece Rebecca. She is survived by her husband Wayne; children Gregor, Andri (Brian), and Carter (Jeanette); and grandchildren Valerie (Emmanuel), Jeffrey, and Owen. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Mary Alice and nephew Timothy (Kate).

A special thank you for the wonderful care from MaineGeneral Hospice and her other caregivers.

A celebration of her life will be held at a later date.

Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared on her tribute wall.