Janeen Marie Smith

JaNeen Marie Smith, age 77, of Frederick, passed away unexpectedly on February 7, 2021, at Frederick Health Hospital. She died within 24 hours of experiencing the first symptoms of a ruptured hepatic abscess.

JaNeen was born in Beloit, Wisconsin on May 31, 1943. She was the daughter of the late Mary Ellen (Kidd) Kniprath and Robert Lavern Kniprath. Her father served in the United States Navy in both theaters during World War II and spent several years as a Hand Compositor and Proofreader for Rand McNally. In 1950, when JaNeen was about seven years old, her family moved to Florida, where her father was a member of the Carpenter, Pile-driver and Millwright Union, and supervised the building of some of the first launch pads at Cape Canaveral in support of America's space program. JaNeen had a great love for animals, the natural world, history and archaeology and her interest in, and love for these subjects spanned her entire life. She had many fond memories of growing up in Florida during the 1950s and of the area's unspoiled natural beauty.

It was in Brevard County Florida where JaNeen first met her devoted and loving husband of 58 years, Frank John Smith, who also worked for the space industry. When the couple met, JaNeen was working as a Master Hair Stylist in Cocoa Beach. JaNeen and Frank were married in 1962 and had two daughters, Marykim and Debby. During the early years of their marriage Frank worked at Kennedy Space Center and JaNeen owned and operated her own beauty salon. During this period of their life together, JaNeen and her husband loved to square dance and were members of the Canaveral Squares Square Dance Club. They also played Mahjong and bridge, and took their girls on frequent camping trips and weekend excursions to the many historic sites, museums and natural wonders of Florida. The couple lived in Brevard County until 1972, when Frank took a job with Bendix Corporation at a missile tracking station in Tananarive, Madagascar. JaNeen loved living in Madagascar and she and Frank took their girls on many wonderful adventures during Frank's two-year assignment. JaNeen also learned to play golf while in Madagascar. Upon the completion of Frank's assignment, the family returned to their home in Brevard County, Florida, where Frank worked at Kennedy Space Center and on missile tracking ships which sailed from Port Canaveral.

In 1975, looking for a change of pace, JaNeen and Frank, along with her parents, purchased a 50 acre farm in Urbana, Missouri, and relocated there. During her years on the farm, JaNeen and Frank raised cows, rabbits, chickens, pigs, goats and an orphaned squirrel JaNeen named "Chipper." While living on the farm, JaNeen and Frank also became foster parents to numerous at risk teenagers in need of a stable and loving home. In 1979, JaNeen and Frank, along with her parents, purchased a bar and grill they named "The Foxfire Tap" in Fristoe, Missouri, which became a successful business. During this same period, at nearby Warsaw, Missouri, between 1980 and 1982, JaNeen worked as an Archaeological Site Excavation and Data Collection Technician, assisting staff from the Paleontology Department of the University of Chicago with archaeological excavation and data collection of animal remains from the Pleistocene Period, to include those of the woolly mammoth, saber tooth tigers and miniature horses.

After their youngest daughter, Debby, graduated from high school in 1982, JaNeen began traveling with Frank to his jobs, since he was by this time working as a union millwright. Between 1982 and 1985, Frank's work took them to Garden City, Kansas, Chouteau, Oklahoma and Dallas, Texas. Never one to sit idle, while in Texas, JaNeen attended commercial driving school, obtained a commercial driver's license and learned to drive large tractor-trailers. She also graduated from the Fort Worth Academy of Floral Design. In 1985, Frank accepted a millwright job in Maryland, and he and JaNeen remained in Maryland for the next 17 years. Shortly after their arrival, JaNeen began volunteering at the newly established Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum (JPPM) in St. Leonard, a 512 acre living history museum and archaeological site owned and operated by the State of Maryland. Within a year, JaNeen became a paid staff member and served a myriad of roles during her nine years of employment at JPPM. While at JPPM, JaNeen established the museum store and became the museum's Visitor Services Manager. She also worked as a Museum Educator, Volunteer Coordinator, Historical Interpreter, Conservation Technician, Archaeology Technician, Shoreline Erosion Control Technician, Pavilion Rental Manager and Grounds Manager. She took numerous professional training courses in museum operations offered by the State of Maryland, and in 1987, JaNeen received the Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum Appreciation Award. Moreover, in 1988 she received the Maryland Ambassador Award, and in 1992, the Maryland Historical Trust Courtesy Award.

Two years after starting work at JPPM, Mrs. Jefferson Patterson, who had donated the 512 acre property to the State of Maryland, asked JaNeen and her husband to become the grounds keepers of Point Farm, her country retreat, which was located on the museum property. Point Farm consists of a beautiful 1933 Colonial Revival brick house and gardens designed by noted female architects Gertrude Sawyer and Rose Greely, and an Olympic sized swimming pool installed by Mr. Patterson in the 1930s. JaNeen and her husband accepted Mrs. Patterson's offer and moved into the grounds keeper's cottage at Point Farm, where she and Frank lived until 1994. In addition to performing their grounds keeping duties at Point Farm, JaNeen continued her work at JPPM and Frank continued his work as a millwright.

In 1989, JaNeen and Frank began raising their two year old granddaughter, Brittany, who is profoundly deaf, in order to give her the benefit of a Maryland School for the Deaf (MSD) education, while Brittany's mother, Debby, continued to serve in the military. In 1994, JaNeen, Frank and Brittany moved to Frederick County to be closer to MSD's main campus, and JaNeen was immediately hired as the Visitor Services Manager of Catoctin Mountain Zoological Park in Thurmont. In 1995, JaNeen also began working part time at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine (NMCWM) in Frederick, and she became the NMCWM's full-time Executive Director in 1996. She served in this capacity until her retirement from NMCWM in November 2002.

At the NMCWM, JaNeen led the team that created the museum's first phase exhibits and directed and supervised the museum's move to a temporary location. In 1998, she was lauded on the floor of the United States Senate for her accomplishments at the NMCWM. JaNeen also served as editor-in-chief of Surgeon's Call , the quarterly newsletter/journal of NMCWM, which won a 1999 APEX Award for Publications Excellence. JaNeen also led the museum through a 3 million dollar building renovation and exhibit design project at its main location, as well as the museum's Grand Opening, which occurred in October 2000. That same year, JaNeen was nominated for the Burley Hunter Award of the Small Museum Association.

In addition, JaNeen led the NMCWM through its initial Accreditation by the American Association of Museums (AAM), which the museum was awarded in 2002. As a direct result of JaNeen's leadership, drive and vast knowledge of professional museum practice, the NMCWM became one of the youngest museums in the nation to receive full AAM Accreditation, an honor bestowed on less than 5 percent of museums. JaNeen was also selected as the Frederick County, Maryland Tourism Ambassador of the Year in 2002.

In November 2002, JaNeen and Frank retired to Brevard County, Florida to be closer to their eldest daughter, Marykim, and her children, where JaNeen was immediately hired as the Executive Director of the Brevard Museum of History & Natural Science (Albert & Grace Taylor Museum) in Cocoa, and served in that position for nine years. Under her leadership and direction the museum thrived. She dramatically improved the museum's professional practices to include the creation of new and exciting exhibits and educational programming. JaNeen also conducted a comprehensive inventory of the museum's collection and instituted an outstanding collections management program. In concert with the museum's supportive and devoted Board of Directors, new and innovative fundraising ideas were implemented with great success, to include the museum's first Motorcycle Poker Run, Casino Night, Battle of the Bands and Antique Road Show which not only provided much needed money for the Museum but delighted and introduced many newcomers to this treasured part of Brevard County.

In 2012, JaNeen and Frank returned to Frederick, Maryland to live with their daughter, Debby, who retired from the Army at Fort Detrick in 2016. During the last eight years of her life, JaNeen was instrumental in founding and leading the Frederick nonprofit organization, Historic Rocky Springs Chapel, Inc., whose primary focus is the preservation and interpretation of Rocky Springs Chapel (built 1882) and Rocky Springs School House (built 1839). Under JaNeen's leadership, the organization met with much success, to include receiving a Frederick County Landmarks Foundation 2019 Historic Preservation Award for Stewardship, and successfully completing a preservation project that stabilized Rocky Springs School House, a project which earned the Maryland Historical Trust 2021 Preservation Award for Excellence in Institutional Rehabilitation. Moreover, JaNeen thoroughly enjoyed helping her daughter decorate her 1904 folk Victorian house, host Victorian teas, and design and enhance the beautiful and expansive flower gardens that surround it, with the goal of providing critical habitat for pollinators and native wildlife.

JaNeen's zest and love for life were unmatched. She lit up any room she was in. She possessed great strength of character and bravery, and was exceptionally gracious, selfless, caring and kind. She had a wonderful sense of adventure and could talk to anyone about virtually anything. She never met a stranger. JaNeen had great compassion and empathy for animals and would take extraordinary care of any sick or wounded creature she encountered, weather farm animal or native wildlife. Her great wit, intelligence and warm sense of humor were evident to anyone who met her, and her ability to instill confidence in others was a remarkable gift. Her work ethic and professionalism were unrivaled. JaNeen deeply loved her family and was deeply loved by them. She was a remarkable woman, mother, grandmother, wife, daughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend. JaNeen was an incredible soul and will be profoundly missed by her grieving family and friends. She was the epitome of a life well lived.

Surviving in addition to her loving husband of 58 years, are her daughter, Marykim Brown (and husband Loren), grandsons Kristopher Brown (and wife Beth), Brandon Brown and Markym Brown. Great-grandsons Kris II, Kyle, and Kydin Brown, and Great-granddaughters Karissa, Kaia, Kora, Kamelia, and Katerina Brown, all of FL. Daughter Debby Moone and granddaughter Brittany Branch-Smith, of Frederick, MD, and granddaughter Leah Moone of Indianapolis, IN.

JaNeen is also survived by her aunt Shirley (Kidd) Roberts and cousin Cheri (Roberts) Neuman Herald, of Beverly Hills, FL, cousin Scott Roberts, of Lebanon, CT, cousin Phil Fortman (and wife Karen), of Davie, FL; Sister-in-law Susan (Marquis) Kniprath and nephew Ian Bell of Waynesville, NC.

JaNeen was preceded in death by her parents; brother Robert Jon Kniprath, and niece Shelly Marie (Kniprath) Bell Stacy.

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made in her honor to Historic Rocky Springs Chapel, Inc., 7817 Rocky Springs Road, Frederick, MD 21702.

Online condolences may be shared at www.keeneybasford.com.