Solange Smith

Solange A. Smith, 87, of Fargo, ND, died Wednesday, August 5, 2009, at The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio Solange Alexina Smith, 87, of Fargo, died Wednesday, August 5, 2009. Solange was born to Germaine (Hautier) and Leon Brux in Morlanwelz, Belgium on the 21st of April, 1922. She married Maurice C. Smith (of Fargo) in her hometown of Morlanwelz, Belgium on May 13, 1953. She met her husband in her hometown of Morlanwelz, Belgium in February of 1945 during his military service in World War II. At his first meeting with Solange he said he knew he was going to marry her and he asked her father if he could marry her. They subsequently married eight years later after the end of The War. After the end of World War II in May of 1945 Solange and Maurice corresponded to each other for several years and then lost touch with each other. In 1951 Solange visited the United States for the first time and toured throughout the U.S. by train and bus for three months. However, she never contacted Maurice as it was improper back then for her to pursue him. In 1952 Solange’s mother told her to write to Maurice and ask if he was married and happy. She did so and immediately after seven days she received a letter from Maurice that he was not married and it was her fault. So, they said “let’s get married” and Maurice returned to Belgium to marry her in 1953. She enjoyed being a homemaker and a seamstress at home. She worked for Dayton’s as a seamstress when they first opened in Fargo in 1971 through 1979 until Maurice retired from the Fargo Post Office. Solange and Maurice were winter visitors to Sun City, Arizona from 1986 to 2004 returning to Fargo each summer. When Maurice passed away in 2004 she lived with her son Ronald who took care of her devotedly as she suffered from macular degeneration. The last four and a half years of her life she lived during the winter months in Mesa, Arizona with her son and returned to Fargo each summer accompanied by her son. In May 2003 she and her husband Maurice celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary back in Europe renewing their vows at the city hall and 700-year-old church in Morlanwelz, Belgium. Those who shared in her life were her husband of 51 & ½ years; one daughter, Joyce Germaine Humphrey of Vancouver, WA; and one son, Ronald Maurice Smith, M.D. of Mesa, Arizona. She was preceded in death by her parents, her beloved husband, and her first born infant son, Rodney Frank Smith at age two. Solange died at the Cleveland Clinic Heart & Vascular Institute in Cleveland, Ohio on August 5th after an unexpected post-operative complication. In 1992 she had her aortic valve replaced at Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri and thereafter lived an extremely loving, active and vibrant life until October 2008 when it was determined that the replaced aortic valve of 16 years was dysfunctional. Her son Ronald was her personal physician monitoring and medically treating her heart condition successfully along with physicians at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN and Scottsdale, AZ. Her overall heart health was excellent and strong. The last four years of her life she was very energetic and mentally sharp exercising with a trainer 3 times a week and spending her entire days with her son at his medical office in Mesa, AZ. In May of this year it was recommended that she have the bad heart valve replaced for the second time and was subsequently referred to the Cleveland Clinic for surgery. Solange along with her devoted son Ronald flew to the Cleveland Clinic for her surgery on Tuesday August 4. She was asymptomatic throughout her pre-operative period. Her surgery was a success after 6 hours, however, just two hours after being in the ICU she had a cardiac arrest and was rushed back to surgery to stop excessive bleeding. After 6 hours of re-operation her heart gave out and stopped functioning. She returned to the ICU where at 12 midnight her loving and devoted son had to give the order to remove her from life support and she died shortly thereafter. Maurice and Solange’s wishes were that after their deaths their two remains be commingled as one with burial and internment at Riverside Cemetery of Fargo, ND. Burial of Maurice and Solange will take place after funeral services next year on May 13, 2010 (their wedding anniversary). Funeral: Monday, August 10, 2009, 3:00 PM at Hanson-Runsvold Funeral Home, Fargo, ND. Visitation: Sunday, August 9, 2009 from 3:00 – 5:00 PM at Hanson-Runsvold Funeral Home.