Nancy Smith

Nancy Jane (Evans) Smith, 89, of Springfield and formerly of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, succumbed to esophageal cancer on July 27, 2025. Nancy is remembered as a retired elementary school teacher, an ex-National Park Service Ranger, and a loving mother of three.

Nancy was born on January 13, 1936, to Homer Alden and Nancy Jane (Todd) Evans in Evanston, Illinois. She grew up in Davenport, Iowa and Webster Groves, Missouri, and earned her college degree from Central Methodist University in 1958. Following graduation, she married and moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where she raised her sons.

She began her teaching career after her divorce in 1968, teaching primarily fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students in Oran, Missouri for the next 27 years. She retired from teaching in 1996 and moved to Nixa, Missouri, to be close to her grandsons. In 2006, she moved to Springfield, Missouri, where she resided until her death.

Nancy embarked upon a new adventure in the summer of 1985 as a park ranger in the National Park Service, serving at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial National Historic Site in St. Louis (now the Gateway Arch National Park.) After two summers there, Nancy was hired for a similar position at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, where she worked the summers of 1987 and 1988.

Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Nancy enjoyed bowling in a Monday night league at Cape Bowling Lanes in Cape Girardeau. She spent many hours in supportive roles related to her teaching in Oran, working concessions and taking gate receipts for basketball games and helping with school fundraisers there. Nancy learned to enjoy watching football so that she could spend more time with her sons, and was an avid St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football fan, and later, a Kansas City Chiefs fan. She also enjoyed crafts, taking pottery classes, and painting. In her later years, she found much joy in helping with the upbringing of her two grandsons. Nancy cherished her time with family, excelling in board games and crafting witty answers for “Scattergories” even to her last Christmas.

Nancy is survived by her sons, Craig Alden (Emma) Smith of Ozark, Missouri, and Paul Blake Smith of Springfield; two grandsons, Alden Thomas (Kayla) Smith of Springfield, and Dr. Harper Evan (Shivani) Smith of Chicago, Illinois; niece Ann Self of Cashiers, North Carolina; nephews Dr. David Evans of Madison, Wisconsin, and Dr. Douglas (Georgia) Evans of Chicago; as well as grand-nieces and grand-nephews. She was predeceased by her parents; her brother, Dr. Richard Todd Evans and his wife, Dr. Mary Jo Evans; and one son, Mark Douglas Smith.

In keeping with Nancy’s wishes, there will be no public funeral. The family plans a private remembrance at a later date. The family expresses much gratitude to the dedicated nurses and staff of St. Croix Hospice. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that Nancy be remembered by a donation in her name to a favorite charity.