Obituaries

Kenyard Earl Smith, age 95, passed away on April 19, 2025, at the Heritage Court, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He was born December 29, 1929, in Superior, Nebraska to Leroy and Elizabeth Smith. After graduating high school, he went to Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska, and earned a degree in music (choral/voice) education. He was a high school choir teacher for a few years in Nebraska and then did his military service in Germany during the mid-1950s. After, he attended the University of Northern Colorado, Greely, to earn his masters in choral music. There he met Norine Joyce McCaustland. They married December 27, 1958, and started their life together in Great Falls, Montana where he taught music at Great Falls Senior High and Norine taught elementary.

Their first son, Craig, was born September of 1959. In 1961 Kenyard began his PhD studies in choral music and conducting at the University of Iowa. In 1962 their second son, Carter, was born. After finishing his course work for the doctorate, they returned to Great Falls, but only for a couple of years. Their third son, Connor, was born in 1964 and in 1966 the family moved to Stevens Point, Wisconsin where Kenyard accepted a position at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. Norine found a job as an elementary teacher. They lived in Stevens Point until 1980 when the family moved back to Great Falls. In Montana Kenyard was the principal conductor for the professional choir, The Montana Chorale, and he also taught at what was then Eastern Montana College in Billings, Montana. He retired in 1994.

Ken was a gentle, artistic, kind, funny and caring person who could talk to anybody. He and Norine had a large and loving group of friends with whom they went to fortnightly dances, had dinner parties, played cards, traveled, etc. Kenyard was particularly close to Norine’s family, and they often traveled in the US and abroad. He could melt your heart with his beautiful tenor voice singing “Danny Boy” or make you cry from laughter with jokes that often belied the “choir-boy” character he presented.

Once family and most friends had left the Great Falls area, in 2021 Kenyard and Norine moved to Wisconsin to be closer to family. He is survived by his sons, Carter (Beth and Gabriel) and Connor (Kimcherie, Liam and Keelin) and his grandchildren Dacia, Dayton and Devony (Craig). He was preceded in death by his wife of more than 66 years, his son Craig, his parents and his six siblings. Kenyard and Norine will be buried in Lime Springs, Iowa, where Norine was born and grew up. It became Ken’s adopted home and the McCaustlands, his adopted family.