Kathleen (Morley) Smith

Kathleen Smith, nee Morley, passed away on March 3, 2021, surrounded by her family. She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, Martin J. Smith (Smitty), and survived by her dear daughters Kathy Smith, Tricia (Don) Manhard, and Colleen Panfil; cherished grandsons Zachary (Laura) Panfil, Joshua Panfil, Donnie Manhard and Michael Manhard; and treasured great-grandson, John Martin Panfil. She leaves behind her much-loved sister, Bridie; brothers, Paddy and Dom; sister-in-law, Mary; many nieces and nephews and is preceded in death by her sister, Josie and brother, Frank.

Kathleen was born to Mary Ellen and Dominic Morley in Lissaniska, Bekan, Claremorris, County Mayo, Ireland on February 14, 1934. At the age of nineteen, she made the decision to venture to the United States and start a new life. On a blind date, she met Smitty, who adored her and would become the love of her life. They were married in Chicago on September 28, 1957.  Together they raised their three daughters in Mount Greenwood and Tinley Park. They remained happily married for 51 years until Smitty’s death in 2009.

The simplest things brought Kathleen pleasure. She loved tending to her house and never found something that was broken that she couldn’t fix. Her favorite time of the year was from spring until late fall when she could spend her time gardening, often devoting hours in the yard with her little dog, Elvis. She was fortunate to be surrounded by caring neighbors and she took great joy in connecting with her sister and brothers and nieces and nephews in Ireland and England.

Due to Covid-19, a private funeral Mass will be held at St. Stephen Church with internment following at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. To view the Mass for Kathleen by live stream, please click the link below on Tuesday, March 9th at 11a.m. central.

Please note, that if you are having problems with viewing Kathleen's service at the following link, simply cut and paste the link to your internet browser and hit enter: www.memorialslive.com/ksmith

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Kathleen’s name to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, https://www.jdrf.org/donate/ or JourneyCare Foundation, https://journeycare.org/donate/.