Laura Smith
Wife, aunt, friend, computer champ. Born on April 29, 1950, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.; died on Dec. 31, 2014, in Waterloo, Ont., of cancer, aged 64.
Laura Delayer was a middle child in a family of eight born to a Scottish mother and a French-Canadian father. It was a busy, often tumultuous, household and she didn't receive much warmth or attention from her parents. But they did instill in all their children the glorious escape of the written word, which set the pattern for Laura's life. She loved to read – everything from Maeve Binchy to Hillary Rodham Clinton – and to learn.
Laura and I grew up a few blocks apart and, at 16, she decided that I was to be her eternal love. It happened as she envisioned. I went off to university, where my mastery of bridge and partying cost me any hope of a degree. She married me anyway. After several years, and jobs, I enrolled at the University of Waterloo to complete my degrees in Canadian studies and history. In 1977, while I studied, Laura began her career in the school's computer sciences department. She would work there for more than 35 years, ending as a supervisor of information systems.
Laura loved her job, making forever friends among her peers and forging ties with students. She paid attention to those who appeared to be in need of food, or friends, and began running departmental breakfasts, at which anyone partaking had to make a donation to the Federation of Students' Food Bank. If she spotted a student who needed software but couldn't afford it, she would hand it over and say, "Now – run like the wind!" She covered the costs from her own pocket.
With six sisters and a brother, Laura had many nieces and nephews, all of whom called her Auntie. She loved to spend time with them at "camp," the family cottage near Sault Ste. Marie on Lake Superior. She would take the kids to the shoreline and skip stones with them, saying that the resulting ripples never stopped, but travelled on to distant shores. It was her way of telling them that whatever they did in life, they would have an impact far beyond what they might imagine.
In July of 2010, Laura was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, which had spread to her lung and spine. Yet she defied the odds and continued to work for another three years, until the fall of 2013. Everyone marvelled at her strength of purpose, and lack of self-pity. Her oncologist summed it up near the end, saying, "Laura, I have never had a patient like you."
We were inseparable for 42 years, until she died in my arms at home on the last day of 2014. In recognition of her love and compassion for others, the Federation of Students' Food Bank at Waterloo has designed coin-collection boxes in her memory to be placed around campus. Laura would have been the first to make a donation.
Larry Smith is Laura`s husband.