Darryl G. Smith

A Memorial Service for Darryl G. Smith of Williams, MN will be held on Saturday, January 12, 2019 at 1:00PM at Helgeson Funeral Home in Warroad, MN. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.

Darryl Glen Smith, 79, of rural Williams, MN, passed from this life on December 30th in his home by the Lake of the Woods, with his loving wife Rosa by his side, and after a 3 year battle with brain cancer.

Darryl Glen was born on March 3, 1939 in New York Mills, MN, the son of Charles and Hazel (Sillanpaa) Smith.  The family later moved to Minneapolis and Grand Forks before settling in Thief River Falls, MN in 1946.  While growing up there, he developed his life-long passion for hunting and the outdoors.  Darryl graduated from Lincoln High School in 1957 and was a member of the 1956 Prowler Minnesota State Hockey Championship team.  In 1960, Darryl joined the newly formed Peace Corps where he served the people of Medellín, Colombia, South America until 1962.  Upon returning home to Thief River, Darryl worked at his father’s tire shop where he met and married Wahna (Torkelson) Smith in 1965.  He then attended Moorhead State University, received a degree in Spanish, and in 1971 moved to Anchorage, AK where he managed a BF Goodrich tire store.  He later moved to Canal Fulton, OH and Lawrenceville, GA after accepting international sales positions for BF Goodrich and MGM Brakes International.

A few years after his divorce, on a business trip to Bogotá, Colombia, Darryl met who would be the love of his life and his wife for 26 years Rosa (Sanchez) Smith and they relocated to “God’s Country” on Sandy Shores by Lake of the Woods in Northern Minnesota.  He often rejoiced that after retiring on the lake that “there was always something fun to do!”  While there, he enjoyed traveling and spending time with his loving, caring, and compassionate wife Rosa, taking time for the numerous projects involved with the lake house, and thoroughly enjoying his life.  He often expressed his love for Rosa and the joy in his belief of seeing his mother and father again in heaven.

Darryl is survived by his wife Rosa (Sanchez) Smith; son Maury (Traci McCarthy) Smith of Indianapolis, IN; daughter Cere Smith of Dacula, GA; grandson Colin Smith of Mankato, MN; brother Gary (Millie) Smith of Chinook, MT; step-daughter Claudia Sanchez of Miami, FL; previous spouse Wahna (Torkelson) Smith of Thief River Falls, MN; and numerous other friends, family, outdoor companions, and neighbors.  He was preceded in death by his father Charlie and mother Hazel.

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