Ruth “Ellen” (Hess) Smith aged 81 years, of Melbourne, Florida entered the Kingdom Heaven on April 26, 2024.  Ellen (as she was called by her family since birth) was born February 12, 1943, in Douglas, Wyoming to Edna Faye (Chambers) Hess and Arthur Joseph Hess of Douglas, Wyoming.  She is one of four children.  Ellen is preceded in death by her parents, her sister Charlotte “Eileen” Hess, her husband Curtis E. Smith (Master Sergeant, Retired USAF); and brothers-in-laws Edward Yates, Grady Smith, Olton Smith, Oscar “Bill” Smith, Otis “Tink” Smith; and sisters-in-laws Leila (Smith) Parnell, Leta Mae (Smith) Barber, Ethel (Smith) Suggs, and Beatrice (Smith) Buie. 

Ellen is survived by her daughter Shawn Smith, son Mark Smith, granddaughters Taylor and Grace; grandsons Ian and Wilder all who live in Melbourne, Florida; sister Sheryl (Hess) Yates of Casper, Wyoming and brother Arthur “Bill” Hess of Goshen, New Hampshire; sisters-in-laws Margaret (Smith) Robinson of Hope Mills, North Carolina and Judy (Conklin) Hess of Goshen, New Hampshire, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Following a brief admission in the Holmes Regional Medical Center Surgical ICU in Melbourne, Florida, she was admitted to the William Childs Hospice House in Palm Bay, Florida on April 25, 2024.  During both admissions she was attended to by her family.  Ellen peacefully passed on the morning of April 26, 2024.  She was known for her amazing love, dedication, protection, and reverence for her family (pets included). 

In 1959, Ellen was working in a soda shop in Douglas, Wyoming when she met a handsome young man that caught her attention – he ultimately became the love of her life.  He introduced himself as “Smitty” and within a few weeks they were dating.  Early on in their relationship, one of Smitty’s friends encountered Ellen and asked her “how is Curtis doing?”, to which she inquisitively replied, “Curtis who?”.  Not knowing him by his first name, but rather by his nickname “Smitty”, which is the name she called him throughout their 60-year love story.  Ellen and Smitty were married on July 23, 1961.  They were relocated to Pinedale, Wyoming in 1963.  The day before her husband passed away on January 8, 2020, he referred to his wife as his “soulmate”.  Ellen, in her later years, referred to Smitty as the “love of her life”.  She loved him very much, just as he forever loved her, and she mourned his passing until she passed.

Ellen spent the first twenty-one years of their marriage living the life of an active-duty US Air Force wife relocating from one military base to the next. She worked a few part-time jobs in the early years of their marriage; however, that changed when they began their family and Shawn and Mark were born in May 1964 and July 1965 respectively.  Together they built their lives raising their two children and caring for several pets.  In 1966, the military relocated Smitty and the family to Chiang Mai, Thailand; then to Fort Belvoir, Virginia in 1969; and ultimately they settled in Satellite Beach, Florida when Smitty was reassigned in 1973 to the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) Headquarters located at Patrick Air Force Base, Cocoa Beach, Florida. 

In 1978, Ellen began her career working in healthcare at Holmes Regional Medical Center (which would later become known as Health First) in Melbourne, Florida.  She worked in many departments beginning with medical records, emergency department, outpatient therapy department, hospice, coding department, and finally spending the lion’s share of her career working in the billing department. 

In 1999, the family moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado to be closer to family living in Wyoming.  After a rather unusually cold winter, Ellen came to the distinct realization that cold weather and snow were not for her, preferring sunshine and warm weather, they moved back to Florida and built a new home in Melbourne, Florida in 2000.  She returned to Health First.  Ellen loved her career and shared her skills and knowledge with other co-workers, making life-long friends throughout the years.  She retired from Health First in November 2021 with more than 40 years of exemplary service.

When not at work, Ellen enjoyed spending time with her family – whether it be at the local bowling alley in leagues with Smitty or cheering on her family.  She enjoyed watching her children develop their skills bowling in the Patrick Air Force Base youth leagues on Saturday mornings. Shawn and Mark both bowled in travel leagues in Brevard County, and Smitty and Mark bowled in the AFTAC leagues, and Shawn bowled leagues at Melbourne Lanes and Satellite Beach Lanes.  Ellen was active in the Friday night bowling league at Patrick AFB Lanes with her husband, and in the latter years Shawn took her place on the Friday night league.  She loved to visit her husband Smitty as he worked the Night Manager position at Patrick AFB Lanes after he retired from active duty in 1982.  Besides the joy of seeing her husband, she would take the opportunity to enjoy one of her favorite meals, a “strike burger” with steak fries from the bowling alley snack bar.  She truly enjoyed the simple wonders of life with family and her closest friends!!

Ellen was a true cheerleader of her family!!  She was a dedicated fan and supporter of her husband and children, watching Smitty play fast pitch softball for AFTAC at Patrick AFB on the AFTAC Blue team as one of their pitchers, and watching her son play first base in the youth baseball league at Patrick AFB, and wrestling in high school.  She watched her daughter at her dance classes and dance recitals, and she enjoyed listening to Shawn and Mark take piano lessons and practice at home daily.  Ellen loved being outside in the sun tending to her garden and yard, going to the beach, swimming at the Patrick AFB swimming pool, going to the movies, or enjoying a meal out with her family.  She loved taking her dogs for walks around the neighborhood after dinner, and enjoyed her cats snuggling on her lap at night as she watched TV.  Most of all, Ellen loved to be around her family.  She loved to watch her family light up at those special days of the years – making birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other special events all that more memorable with her endless love of family!!  She is loved and missed by All!  Ellen remains alive in our minds and in our hearts!  Surely, she is enjoying the promise of her heavenly home and healed body as she awaits our arrival to our everlasting home with The Lord. 

The family is grateful to have had a wife, mother, sister, sister-in-law, and grandmother in Ellen that truly understood unconditional sacrificial love.  Service will be May 31, 2024, at 12:30 p.m. with interment at the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery reunited with her husband.  The family request that in lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the American Cancer Society, National Stroke Association, or a charity of your choice in her name, she would consider it an honor.  Charities for animals could be an option as Ellen was a lover of animals.