Birth date: Dec 2, 1961 Death date: Dec 20, 2025
Kelly Dawson Smith was unexpectedly called home to heaven on December 20, 2025, at the age of 64. He was born on December 2, 1961, in Provo, Utah to Dean Morris Smith and Gwen Elda Dawson Smith. He married the love of his life Mar Read Obituary
I was lucky enough to meet Kelly thirty six years ago when I started working as a seasonal employee at the city of Orem. I was a nineteen year old kid that thought he new everything but in reality didn't know a thing. That is when Kelly took me under his wing and gave me all the tools to succeed and have a successful career at the City. And yes this is when I also learned the famous phrase of his ( Let me tell you something)! Kelly was like a brother to me.
Some of my favorite memory's were going Pheasant and duck hunting with Kelly, MaryAnn, Tyson, my wife and I, on his family's property in Payson. It didn't take Rishelle and MaryAnn long to figure out that they could drop us off to hunt and they would go to Payson and have breakfast why we hunted. On one of the trips we decided to run up and jump the ducks off the canal, there must have been fifty ducks that jumped up and we both shot every shell in our gun and not one of those ducks hit the ground. I looked over at Kelly and he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders and neither one of us said a word.
Another memory was Kelly's family owned a business in Kamas (I do believe it was a Polar queen) , and Kelly and MaryAnn would invite us to go eat there once in a while. Kelly would always tell me I needed to get the Stum burger. So I did and every time, I wore half that thing on my shirt and he would just look at me and smile and say, "What are you five?"
There are so many fun memories with Kelly and his family from work, to Vegas, to ceramics, way too many to mention! But what I find myself being most grateful for was the support they gave to me and my family.
I (we) will cherish them forever.
To MaryAnn and the boys are thought and prayers are with you at this very difficult time. he will be greatly missed. love Jason, Rishelle and Kaela Cordner
I grew up next door to Kelly. He must have had a desire to drive. After reading Linda’s memory I had to laugh. When we were about 4 y.o. Kelly, Jeff and I were in our old Buick. After I got out of the car, Kelly pulled the car out of gear and it rolled out of the driveway, across the street and ended up in the neighbor’s side yard. I was yelling for Kelly because he fell to the floorboards. My mom came out and was sure Kelly was hurt thankfully everyone was fine. I also spent many a vacation with Kelly and our parents. The 6 of us would pile into one car and take road trips to southern CA, the redwoods, B.C. and Alberta Canada. The things Kelly and Gwen could think of to keep each other occupied while the miles and hours slipped away. The two of them fed off each other. Fun times! Great memories! So sorry for his family’s loss.
We have 3 daughters with special needs. Kelly always took time to speak to them and connect with them. As a girl dad this touched my heart so much and I never thanked him. If I could tell him anything I would thank him for welcoming our family to his house to swim and always always being kind to my daughters.
I have known Kelly about 6 years (met when my sister in law Emilee married his son Kendall. )
We see him regularly as he welcomes our family and 4 daughters to his house to swim.
3 of our daughters are disabled and Kelly always always always took time to connect with them, say hi them, and was simply kind to them. These simple gestures of kindness, looking beyond their disabilities and just talking to them always touched my heart each and every time and I regret now not telling him how much it meant to me.
Kelly Smith is one of my great friends! I worked with Kelly for 30 years, and have known him for even more. I got the word of Kelly's passing and it hit me hard. I knew he had become sick over the last couple of weeks but I really thought he would pull through.
I have so many fond memories of Kelly I couldn’t tell all of them! I will tell you a few.
One day we had a terrible cold spell in Orem and it was freezing the water lines, Kelly and I were checking if the water meters were froze or if the lines were froze else where. Well Kelly and I were so cold and our hands hurt so bad that we couldn’t get them to work all of a sudden we looked at each other and started laughing, we couldn’t stop. To this day I wonder how many people saw us and thought we were crazy, two grown men in 0 degree weather laughing like we were! Any time I had to do Kelly's yearly evaluation he wouldn’t want to sit down with me to go over it, he would just say give it to me so I can sign it I don’t need to see the score you gave me! That’s who Kelly was. My job would have been harder if it wasn’t for people like Kelly he was so dependable. He could work with anyone and everyone loved working with him. After he retired and moved to Florida I would call him to catch up, one time I called after they went through a hurricane, of course he was out checking on his neighbors and cleaning up the mess it caused!
Kelly you are going to be missed by so many people! We love you!
I have know Kelly my entire life because we grew up across the street from each other. Kelly was more of a brother to me than a neighbor. We were the same age, started kindergarten together and graduated together and found a lot of trouble together in the years between. I have a lot of memories and will share a couple. One day Kelly’s dad was mowing the lawn and stuck the two of us in grandpa green. Grandpa Green was a really big old green truck. Well Kelly somehow managed to put the truck in neutral and we proceeded to roll down the drove way and across the road all while trying to wave our arms and yelling to get his dad’s attention. Dean finally saw what was happening and was able to get us stopped before we hit the house across the street. To say we were in trouble is an understatement.
Another fun memory I have are all of the water fights that took place between our houses. One time Kelly ran in the house after me with the garden hose oh and the garden hose was spraying water. Luckily our mothers were involved in the water fights so he didn’t get in trouble. To many fun fun times. Kelly was and always has been a wonderful person. To Mary Anne, his boys and granddaughter my heart is breaking for your family. Always remember the memories you have.
Linda (Jensen) Youngdell
Mary Anne and Boys,
I just want you to know how heart broken we are. Roger and Kelly worked together for so many years and he always had such great things to say about him. The great memories he has from the city working together will always be remembered. I wish he could have enjoyed more years of retirement though. God bless you guys as you try to go on without him. Our thoughts and prayers are surely with you.
Chris Pyne
