Nadine Smith, 99, passed into the arms of our Lord on Nov. 26, 2016, at Pine Hills Retirement Community in Hot Springs, SD.

Nadine Elizabeth Smith was born July 6, 1917, in Pierre, SD, to Will and Hazel Smith. She grew up in the home her father had built and graduated from Pierre High School.

Ever a strong, independent woman, she went to work for the SD Railroad Commission in Pierre in 1936. Deciding to leave Pierre, she then went to work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as part of a survey team sent to Indian reservations. When the survey teams were discontinued, she moved to California, taking her aging mother with her. She did secretarial work for several corporations in the San Francisco area, including the man who built Candlestick Park. When the surveys were reinstated, she was asked to return to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She continued with the Bureau until her retirement, doing secretarial work for the auditors at several reservations throughout the US. She once reflected that she was very lucky that she had enjoyed every job, and that as she looked back, she was amazed that she could quit a job in her 40's and not worry about what was next.

Upon retirement, she returned to Pierre and busied herself with decorating and landscaping the home she had grown up in. She found great joy in planting and cultivating a variety of roses, irises, and peonies. She continued her passion for fine antiques, art and especially her collection of brown transfer ware and tea leaf china. She had a keen eye for arranging and decorating her home with her many collectibles. She often said that she was going to have, "My Museum of Memories" painted inside her entryway.

Nadine was a voracious reader in both fiction and nonfiction; often reading two or three books at a time. She was awed by the many connections to life experiences that she found in her reading. She enjoyed visiting and debating about any topic you cared to discuss, especially politics and the 2016 election.

If you wanted the best seat in Nadine's house then you had to move the dog! She truly loved all animals, but especially her dogs. Dogs were not her whole life, but Alvin, Robbie, and Annie, the Schnauzers, and Zoie, the Dachshund, made her life whole.

In 1997, Nadine moved to Hot Springs to be closer to family. At the age of 90, she bought a home on N. 4th Ave. Here she established many close relationships, and felt so blessed to be part of such a caring and close-knit neighborhood.

Nadine is survived by her three nieces, Cheryl (Sam) Zimiga, Karen (Kevin) Lockhart, Laurie Martin and close friends, Carol Laville, and Tami Dross. She was preceded in death by her parents, and her sister and brother-in-law, Andrea and Kenneth Martin.

Funeral services will be at 10:00 AM, Monday, Dec. 12, 2016, at St Luke's Episcopal Church in Hot Springs. Memorials have been established to Hospice of the Hills Rapid City and to the Rapid City Humane Society.