Louise Gray (Sieker) Smith, 87, of The Heritage of Overland Park, KS and formerly of Gunn City, MO, passed away on Saturday, August 26, 2023 after a long battle with dementia. Funeral services were held on Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at the  Atkinson Funeral Home in Harrisonville, MO.  Interment in the Garden City Cemetery in Garden City, MO. Memorial contributions are suggested to American Alzheimer's Association.

Louise was born November 13, 1935, near Garden City, MO, and was the daughter of Gustav "Gus" Herman and Audrey Marie (Buchanan) Sieker. She attended Peach Grove Elementary School, a walk of over one mile from the farm she was raised on. Louise liked to reminisce about how her dad, with herself and her siblings following behind, cleared a path through deep snow one winter morning so they could get to school. By the time they arrived their clothes were frozen, and they had to stand next to a stove until their clothes thawed out. Louise went on to attend Garden City High School and soon after graduating she married John Louis Smith, Sr. on June 27, 1954, in the Garden City Methodist Church. Three years later, they settled on a farm north of Gunn City where they raised a family of four. It was difficult during those early years as they had no running water, no indoor bathroom, no telephone, and only one vehicle, which left her and three little ones at the time without available transportation when John was working a shift at the Leeds General Motors plant in Kansas City. To get by on food, Louise planted a large garden every spring and there was plenty of vegetable and fruit canning throughout the summer.

A lifelong resident of Cass County, Louise was a member of the First Baptist Church of Harrisonville and she served for over 40 years as a Cass County election judge, having retired after the 2016 presidential election. Above all else, she was a loving and caring mother who enjoyed watching Johnny Carson late at night, organizing multiple family reunions, visiting the mountains of Colorado, working outdoors, and raising livestock.

Louise was preceded in death by her parents, Gus and Audrey; her husband, John; a son, John Louis Smith, Jr.; and a sister, Dorothy Shirley. She is survived by her daughter, Brenda (Ron) Peery, of Peculiar, MO; her daughter, Diana Smith, of Gunn City, MO; her son, Michael (Pamela) Smith of Harrisonville, MO; grandchildren: Lucinda Peery of Gladstone, MO; and John Peery of Peculiar, MO; step-grandchildren: Alec Jackson of Colorado Springs, CO; and Chase McDaniel of Tulsa, OK; and siblings: Jim Sieker of Garden City, MO; Francis Masoner of Creighton, MO; Fred (Connie) Sieker of Butler, MO; and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews.