Eva V. Smith

READFIELD – Our beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away peacefully on June 7, 2025 at the age of 94. She was born on July 13, 1930, in Augusta, as the daughter of Marjorie Hope Boynton of Caribou. Eva spent her last days surrounded by family and friends and with support from the Maine Veteran’s Home and hospice as she passed into the afterlife.

Eva spoke fondly about her early years living with her Uncle Ervin on a farm in Vassalboro and not so fondly about having to milk the family cow named Thorn. She attended Erskine Academy and later Cony High School upon moving to Augusta to live in a boarding house operated by her mother. At the boarding house she met Eugene C. Smith, a WWII veteran, who would become her husband of 55 years until his death in 2006. Together, Eva and Gene raised seven children, built two summer camps and a home, and cherished and helped care for 16 grandchildren. Caring for her children and grandchildren was everything to Eva and all will remember her singing (Bushell and Peck was a favorite). Much family time revolved around shared meals, especially the Saturday night baked bean dinners. Her pies, bread, dinner and finger rolls were legendary among family. As raising children allowed, she worked at the State of Maine Bureau of Taxation, as the postmistress at the small Readfield Depot office, and seasonally at Longfellow’s Greenhouses.

Eva fell in love with gardening at the age of 8, taking advantage of the site of a recently sold wood pile that was free of weeds. She moved often in her younger years but always found a way to have a garden. She was an optimistic gardener who accepted that gardening adversities are always present and either found a way to live with them or turn them into an advantage. She once created a Daffodil Moose Trail by planting daffodil bulbs in the footprints left by a moose that walked across a newly planted lawn. For several years Eva and Gene sold their field grown mums as a business named Geneva Gardens. She was a recipient of a 2009 Spirit of America Award for her years of service beautifying Readfield with her gardening skills. Eva’s flowers live on in the yards of family and friends.

Eva is survived by her son, Stephen Smith and wife Barbara, Stanley Smith and wife Debbie, Matthew Smith and wife Tamara, Andrew Smith and wife Carol Mansfield, Kenneth Smith; her daughters Sandy Longfellow and husband Scott, Shirley Humphrey and husband Scott; daughter-in-laws Jeanne Chase and husband Tim, and Judy Smith; grandchildren, Sarah, Darcie, Kristin, Will, Jeffrey, Jake, Evan, Casey, Katie, Isabel, Toby, Ellie, Matthew, Alex, Ryan, and Ben all who affectionately referred to her as “Nana”; step-grandchildren, Chelsea Pierce and Allison Adams; great grandchildren, James, Wesley, Eli, Miles, Oliver, and Henry; and her many nieces and nephews on both the Smith and Boynton sides of the family.

A private funeral service will be held at the Maine Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery. A public celebration of Eva’s life will occur on August 3, at 2 p.m. at Maple Hill Farm Inn and Conference Center, 11 Inn Rd., Hallowell, ME 04347.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Plummer Funeral Home, 16 Pleasant St., Augusta, ME 04330. Online condolences may be shared by visiting http://www.plummerfh.com.

In lieu of flowers, please plant something in Eva’s honor, or share one of your plants with someone else, or think of Eva the next time you see a bluebird