Kristi Dayle (Sharpe) Smith.  What do you say about her????  What an amazing wife, MOM, daughter, sister, aunt, and the best friend any one could ask for!!!

Kristi was born to Rick and Shirley (Silvey) Sharpe on November 14, 1973. She was welcomed home by two very excited 10 year old's Kyle and Kim. On the way home from the hospital Kyle leaned over to Kim and said "Mom and Dad are going to be 50 !! when she graduates from high school!"  In 1976 Kristi welcomed her baby sister Karli and their family was complete.

As a young child she gave herself to the Lord and spent her life in Christian service. This was evident in her selfless actions towards her community and friends. Kristi and Karli would spend their summers at Camp Salvation which both Hayleigh and Ryann have attended.  Kristi was a lifetime Baca county resident. She graduated in 1992 from Walsh High School. She then attended McPherson Central College for 1 year and transferred to OPSU for another year. She also took early childhood classes through LCC for another year.

Kristi met Brian while working at a bowling alley in Guymon in 1994. It was "Love at first sight," at least for Kristi. A year was all it took for Brian. He asked Kristi to marry him and they were joined in wedlock December 16, 1995.  Shortly after they were married, they moved back to Walsh and lived in the house Great Grandpa and Grandma Silvey had built. The next year they moved into Rick and Shirley's farm house down South, and that's when they welcomed Hayleigh.

Hayleigh Daynel Smith was born on January 29, 1997. Coming 25 weeks early, she weighed in at 1 pound 7 ounces. Kristi spent numerous hours with Hayleigh in the NICU at Wesley University in Wichita, Kansas. During that time, she stayed with Uncle Howard and Aunt Joyce in Kingman, Kansas driving back and forth every day, only because the hospital kicked her out at night. While working back home, Brian would make the trip to Wichita on the weekends. Hayleigh was released from the hospital on May 8th of that year. If it wasn't clear before, Kristi's unselfish dedication and love to her family, as a mother, began with Hayleigh and continued with Ryann.

On June 9, 2003, Kristi, Brian, and Hayleigh welcomed Ryann Nicole, affectionately known as "who dat" as a result of her first words, into the world. Ryann was born in Lamar, Colorado and rounded out the family. The family trait of orneriness continued with Ryann. Ryann was known to splat mashed potatoes on her mom's back as an infant. As stated earlier, this was just a continuation of the trait. When Hayleigh was young, she crawled on her knees to get M&Ms and Pop-Tarts from the cabinet. It is a wonder Kristi and Brian did not have heads full of gray hair by the time Ryann entered preschool.

Orneriness was an apparent trait Kristi and Brian passed to their girls. But more importantly, they taught their girls to love Jesus, be kind, and instilled a strength in those girls that is unmatched.

After her husband and her girls, Kristi's love for her nieces and nephews was seen in every interaction. Kristi babysat every one of her nine nieces and nephews at different seasons in her life. When Dayton, Emerlyn, Granger, and Emery were born, Aunt K's love for children was intensified. Aunt Kristi rarely missed a ballgame that her nieces or nephews were playing in. Aunt Kristi would do just about anything any one of the nieces or nephews asked, without hesitation. She was a go-to for all of us, even the five new babies.

Not only did Kristi go to nearly every event for her family members, she attended almost every event Springfield High School had. Kristi went to every sports function, FFA banquet, end-of-year banquet, and almost anything else that any kid even just hinted they might want her to be at.

Baca County 4-H was another place Kristi spent endless hours. Kristi was a 4-H leader in photography, cake decorating, and crocheting. Baca County Fair was special for Kristi; a time where she got few hours of sleep and answered lots of peoples' questions. Kristi was the official Fair photographer for many years. She did not miss a show, the sale, parade, rodeo, derby, or any other event at fair.

Kristi refereed volleyball for many, many years. She worked at Springfield Child Care Center; for the Springfield School District as a Special Education Para-Professional, a substitute teacher, and in the lunchroom. She worked as a waitress, a lifeguard and swimming lessons instructor at both pools in the county, and most recently at Katelyn's Flower Barn.

Kristi loved The Lord, she loved her family, she loved her kids, her nieces and nephews, but it did not stop there. She also loved this county and the people in it.

Kristi had a special gift for photography, capturing memories with her photography business. Kristi has not only taken sports pictures and fair pictures, but she has also taken senior pictures, wedding pictures, family pictures, and landscape pictures. Kristi loved taking pictures, and people love having those pictures- it is likely that nearly half the homes in this county have a picture in it that was taken by Kristi.

The people who loved Kristi the most will remember her huge heart, her big smile, booming laugh, forgiving spirit, and aspiration to make people happy when she could.

Kristi Dayle Smith departed this life, too early as far as we, humans, feel, but at the time that her Savior had designed for her. Kristi was welcomed into the arms of Jesus, with her mom standing nearby on August 12, 2019. Kristi is survived by her loving husband of 24 years- Brian, her daughters Hayleigh and Ryann, her dad- Rick Sharpe, and siblings Kyle (Debbie) Sharpe, Kim (Bob) Wood, and Karli (Doug) Springsteel, grandmother in law Bertha Ingraham, mother in law Wanda Smith, sisters in law Tammy (Marvin) Ingraham, Julie (Joe) Thomas, brother in law Will (Caby) Smith, as well as numerous, nieces, nephews, friends, and extended family.  Kristi is preceded in death by her mother- Shirley Sharpe, her grandparents- Cecil and Rosalie Silvey and Ralph and Elva Sharpe.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to People's Credit Union in care of Kristi Smith's Memorial.