Dianna Smith
Dianna Ayers Smith, wife of Charles Smith died Feb. 18, 2013, in Lexington.
Born Sept. 24, 1953, she was the daughter of Peggy S. Harp of Lexington and the late R. T. Ayers and her late stepfather, Rowland J. Harp. She graduated from the Sayre School, attended Eastern Kentucky University and graduated from the University of Central Florida with honors, earning a bachelor of arts and psychology degrees. In her younger and teenage years, she participated in dance programs. She sang with a teenage band for several different high schools. She moved to Provincetown, Mass., where she became interested in sailing. She took her Coast Guard test and passed it on her first try. She worked on a sailboat as a captain. She was one of two women to receive her captain’s certification at that time.
She later moved to Florida to live with her father, R. T. Ayers, and his wife, Joy. In Florida, she worked as a social worker at a home for delinquent boys, where she met her husband, Charles Smith, who was the director of the program. They were married in June 1989.
Dianna is survived by her mother, Peggy S. Harp, her four brothers, Raymond Thomas Ayers, and his wife, Susie, their children and grandchildren of Edmond, Okla.; Rev. William Richard Ayers and his wife, Dana, and their children and grandson of Stillwater, Okla.; Dr. Joseph Steven Ayers and his wife, Jenny, and their children of Carbondale, Colo.; Stanley Simmons Harp and his wife, Deborah and their four children and grandson of Georgetown; one step-sister, Meagan Harp of Lexington and step brothers Dan Harp of Lexington and Joseph Harp and his wife, Donna and their children of Winchester.
