Obituary of Lillian A. Smith

Niskayuna, NY — Lillian A (Immer) Smith passed on Sunday, September 6th, 2020 in her home in Niskayuna, NY. After an almost year-long battle with lung cancer, she succumbed to the disease. Her passing was not directly Covid 19 related, but certainly complicated by the circumstances. Lillian Grew up in a small mining town in Pennsylvania. Her parents, Joseph and Helen were first generation imigrants from Krackow, Poland. After high school, she moved with her cousins to Washington DC where she worked for the FBI for 17 years. She had many adventures in the big city and eventually met her first love, Darby Immer, on a blind date. They fell in love and married. She would tell you that she knew they would be married the first day that she met him. They had many friends and were the life of the party, tearing it up in DC. Family and friends that knew her are quick to recall those amazing times. Lillian and Darby moved to the suburbs in Maryland and had two children, Christopher and Kenneth. After about a decade, the hustle and bustle of the nation’s capital lost its appeal, so they picked up and moved to Tampa, FL in 1981. Darby’s sudden heart attack in 1982 changed plans again, and Lillian set forth raising her two sons in Florida as a single mom. She was deeply caring, taking on both roles as mother and father providing a loving home. Long after her sons were out of the house, she connected with an old friend of the family, William Smith, who had also lost his spouse. In 2005, she married the second love of her life- who, as it turns out, was also her first love’s best friend- in Las Vegas. Lillian moved to Wesley Chapel to be with Bill in his ancestral home where they remodeled and rebuilt a new life together. She gained a new side of the family who all cherished the person she was. Bill and Lillian then traveled the world. When asked about those trips, she rarely mentions the sights. She always talked about the people she met on the trips, and how much they enjoyed the company. Many of those people became good friends. After Bill’s passing in 2017, she moved back to Tampa to be with friends. In 2019, her sons eventually convinced her to move to Charleston, SC, to be near Kenny as she aged. Shortly after moving, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. Realizing that no treatment was viable, she began hospice care. When Covid 19 struck and her retirement community was locked down, the isolation was challenging for her. It was clear that she could not remain alone, and she certainly did not want to combine hurricane season with Covid 19. Her sons helped her move to Chris’s home in Niskayuna, NY. She got to spend the rest of 2020 with her two sons and grandchildren. Chris and Kenny were by her side when she passed. Lillian A Smith is survived by her two sons, Christopher Immer, Kenneth Immer, and her three grandchildren: Darby Immer, Roxanne Immer, and Caroline Immer. Due to COVID-19 there will be no services at this time.