Rise Smith

Sept. 16, 1952 - March 4, 2025

Risë Louise Smith, age 72, of San Diego, California passed away on March 4 at home with her loving family. Risë was born on September 16, 1952 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the youngest daughter of Leah Loretta (Nyffeler) Smith and Dallas Fisher Smith. She graduated from Elmhurst High School in Fort Wayne as salutatorian, earned a BA from Kalamazoo College in 1974, an MA in Anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1976, and returned there for additional coursework in web usability design sixteen years later. She earned a Masters in Library Science at San Jose State University in 1981. She married Eugene Allan Fosnight on October 30, 1973 in Seoul, South Korea, where Gene was stationed in the military, and they celebrated 51 years of peace, harmony, and adventure in marriage. Their daughter Teal Helena Fosnight Smith was born on July 27, 1982. She and her husband D. Lee Thomsen have two sons Anden Rhys and Osian Henrik Thomsen. Upon Risë and Gene’s retirement in 2016, they joined Teal and her family in San Diego. What a joy it was for Risë to be close to her family and what fun Grandma had with Anden and Osh in the years since! After finishing at the University of Michigan in 1979, Gene and Risë moved to Mountain View, California for Gene’s job and spent two years there before he transferred to Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1981. After a few years of part-time jobs and Teal’s birth, Risë became Public Services Librarian at Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota in 1984, and they moved to Madison where she had a long, successful, and fulfilling career. Libraries were early in the transition to computer use. Initially, Risë was using specialized computer language to search the online research databases for people, but then, as the technology advanced, was teaching people how to search for themselves. Because the Mundt Library had a small staff, Risë did a bit of everything - answering questions about research, teaching individuals and classes how to do research in the paper and computerized environment, and eventually designing and developing the Library’s website. Her title later changed to Digital Design and Access Librarian although she continued all her other roles as well. Risë loved her career, her collaborative co-workers, working with faculty to develop student research skills in their classes, and creating a welcoming and effective library for students and faculty. She was awarded Librarian of the Year by the South Dakota State Library Association in 2004. In retirement in San Diego, Risë continued to love reading. She turned to gardening as a hobby, learning about gardening in a totally different environment than South Dakota. She volunteered in the Greenhouse of Cabrillo National Monument and joined the Point Loma Garden Club. She focused on learning about southern California native plants, and created a yard of mostly natives to make a home for native bees and other pollinators, as well as birds and other wildlife, in an urban yard. In addition to gardening, a love of learning about other places and trying out new foods took Gene and Risë on travel around the world, including Belize, Guatemala, Wales (U.K.), Europe, Vietnam & Cambodia, Turkey, Georgia, and Baja California and Oaxaca (Mexico). Surviving Risë are her husband Eugene Allan Fosnight; her daughter Teal (Lee); two grandsons Anden and Osian; brother Paul Smith (Anngail) of New Braunfels, TX; brother Marc Smith (Beth) of Bloomington, IN; sister Gail Hamm of Fort Wayne, IN; sister-in-law Bivian Oldsen (Dan) of Fort Wayne, IN; several nieces and nephews; great and great great nieces and nephews. Risë’s cancer journey was made easier with the day-in-and-day-out loving care of Gene with Teal’s help. No funeral or services will be held at Risë’s death. To honor Earth’s environment, Earth Funerals will be handling the composting of her body, and she will become part of the soil restoration of a parkway in the Sierra foothills of California. Risë and Gene each kept their own family names when they married. Please respect Risë by giving memorials in her name: Risë L. Smith. Memorial donations may be made to your local public library, another public library of your choice, or to the Sarcoma Foundation of America.