Rachel "Rae" Smith Lorentz

Rachel “Rae” Smith Lorentz died on February 9, 2021 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. She was 97. Rae was born in Camp Point, Illinois on February 3, 1924, the second of three children of Stella Lawton Smith and E. Stanton Smith. Rae had many joyful memories of growing up in Plymouth, IL with her large extended family; “coasting” down the same hills that her parents, grandparents, and great grandparents had; swimming and hunting for geodes in Flour Creek; and roller skating at the rink in the town square. She attended the University of Illinois, where she met Robert, her love and future husband. They lived in Pittsburgh before relocating to Chicago and Homewood IL, where they raised their two children. After Bob’s death in 1978, Rachel moved to Madison WI and Sun Prairie WI, where she lived for the rest of her life. Rachel leaves her children, Carl (Katie) and Janet (John), four grandchildren, Jessica, Grace, David, and Janel, and six great-grandchildren. Rachel loved sewing doll clothes, baking gingerbread boys (never, ever, too many cookies!), growing red geraniums, playing with her grandchildren, a good campfire, her mother’s potato doughnuts, swimming at the Y, enjoying a martini with her brother or a beer with Carl, watching Magnum PI, Gunsmoke, and Texas Rangers, and sitting down with a pot of coffee and a friend for a good chat. Hers was a happy home. Thanks, Mom.