Dennis Smith

Dennis Smith, 61, of  Deepwater, MO,  passed away October 14, 2021. His battle with serious medical issues in recent years showed his courage in facing life challenges with a smile. Despite the pain, Dennis came out a hero and stayed strong until the end.

Dennis was born Kansas City, Missouri. Dennis graduated from Lee’s Summit High School in 1978. He shared many stories through the years of his time playing sports, baseball, and football primarily, as a young child and on into high school. His stories of the games that were played and the moves he made, were like they all happened yesterday. He was a man who loved his family, friends, Harley Davidson, hunting, fishing, car shows and Hot Rods. His love for competition and the game, regardless if it was a big fishing tournament or a fun family fishing day at the pond, it was clearly a gene that he not only passed to his children, but on to his grandchildren.  He held numerous jobs over his years of work, Oil Rig worker, Tow Truck driver, Paper Carrier, Over the Road Truck Driver, Chemical Response Team member, Ranch Hand but he would tell you, hands down his favorite “job” was being the Papa to his 5 grandkids. You couldn’t have a conversation with the man without hearing about what the grandkids did since the last time he had talked to you, so hopefully you had talked since yesterday, or you needed to pull up a seat. He was so proud of all their accomplishments, Joseph and Chris applying to college, Haleigh and Madi with their sports and school, Quincee with her words. Never not proud of something that they were accomplishing.

Dennis shared real life how to’s with us growing up and there have been very few times that a professional has been called because Dad taught us to fix things on our own or we would just call him to come fix it. The amount of knowledge he has instilled into our everyday lives is more than we ever realized, and we are so grateful for all those, “Come here and let me show you how to do this” moments.

He showed us the way to be dreamers, even for the ones out in far-left field on the other field, because if you could see it in the beginning, you could figure out how to make it happen. He never missed a beat when a joke was to be said, you could count on Dad to say something that made everyone stop and giggle. He was also the same guy, in the same conversation being stubborn as a nail on things. As much as it annoyed us, he carried on his day with his free spirit attitude, and it just made you smile. He lived for the outdoors doing the things he loved to do and enjoyed the time spent around bonfires with friends and family. The more wood to burn, the longer we were all staying up, the more s’mores to be eaten, the more nature we got to take in with him, in his element.

We are so lucky for the time we had with you here and we know that you already found a fishing spot to sit back and relax at until we meet again.

Dennis is preceded in death by Calvin Smith (Father), Gladys Smith (Mother), and Donna Wallace (Sister).

Dennis is survived by his Daughter, Megan (Joel) Presnell, Lee’s Summit, MO; Son, Matthew (Aubrey) Smith, Greenwood, MO; Brother, Ralph Smith, of Raytown, MO, Nephews Daniel (Cassie) Linton, Springdale, AR; Doug Linton Fayetteville, AR; Kirk Smith, Raytown, MO; 5 Grandchildren, Chris, Joseph, Haleigh and Madison Presnell, and Quincee Smith and many friends.

We will be having a Celebration of Life for Dad at the Harrisonville City Lake Park ( 706 Ash St, Harrisonville, MO 64701 ) at Shelter House #2 on Saturday, October 23rd Noon to 4pm. If you have a Hot Rod or a Harley we ask that you drive that down to celebrate Dad with a few of his favorite things. We will also have Dad’s go-to gathering food, Hot Dog and Chips, BYOB and great memories.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Missouri Conservation Department at https://mdc.mo.gov/contact-engage/donate.