Carlee spent many years as a missionary for her church, serving without purse or script, but she kept in contact with her family as often as she could by sending cards and letters.

I am her niece. Aunt Carlee told me funny stories about my grandpa and grandma Smith and gave me some important family history and photos so I could learn more about my family and find more of our ancestors.

Carlee's brother, my Uncle Buddy, told me this story about her: "Carlee was driving the car with cruise control. She put the car into cruise control and thought it was autopilot so she turned around and started talking to the ones in the back seat." I don't think she had an accident, but she scared everyone riding with her in the car.

Carlee is buried by her husband, Armand Munoz. They married later in life. He was really good to her.

A short biography as told by her friends during her Open House memorial service.

         Blanche Carlee (Smith) Munoz was born in Aztec, New Mexico, on March 17, 1934. Her parents, Carl and Ella Smith, had nine children: Mary Jo, Robert, Roy, Ella May, Lila, Blanche (Carlee), Bruce, Mabel, and Bud.

          The family moved to St. George, Utah when Carlee was six years old. They lived there for three years before moving to Ogden, Utah. Her father was an elevator operator in the US Forest Service building in Ogden.

         Carlee heard about the gospel from her father's co-worker. She attended gospel meetings and loved what she heard. As a young adult, Carlee moved to Carlton, Oregon, to live with her sister, Ella May and continued listening to the workers share Jesus' story. She remembered, ''They talked to me about making my choice to serve God. In Bible study, I stood up and stated my purpose."

          She later trained for her LPN license in Portland, Oregon, at Wilcox Memorial Hospital and practiced nursing.

          Carlee went into the ministry in 1962. She spent nearly 40 years sharing the gospel in Oregon, Idaho, and Montana with many companions. She welcomed her first companion in Havre, Montana.    In 2002, she was no longer able to do the work. 

          Carlee went to live in the Portland, Oregon, area where she met Armand Munoz who needed a driver.  Carlee enjoyed driving, and so began their friendship. 

         Armand also offered his car for her sister Mabel's needs. One time when Armand and Carlee were together, he expressed his wish for companionship. She finally realized he was proposing to her! They were married in 2008. 

         Armand passed away in 2011. "We had good times," Carlee said. "He loved the truth."

         Later, Carlee lived in assisted living facilities.

Needing more care--in 2021, friends invited her to live with them in their Salem home.

         In August 2022, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In December, she moved to Jefferson Lodge Memory Care in Dallas, Oregon, under the care of that staff and Willamette Vital Health Hospice. She often told them and her visitors, ''Thank you for all you do for me."

          Despite her dementia, Carlee made the effort to get acquainted with staff members and residents and often greeted them by name. She passed away peacefully at age 89 on October 9, 2023. Carlee is survived by her brother.

Quotes by Carlee the last year of her life:

I've got to remember that He is faithful.

You can't do for yourself what you'd like to do

but I would like to do the possible and leave the impossible to God.

Miles mean nothing when it comes to prayer.

Does God remember? He remembers the depth and all the days that He lifts us up to walk with Him.

There's just so much tenderness in people we don't even realize.

It's such a wonderful thing to be content with what we have.

It's not a guessing game with God. He knows everything.

We come to know that we've got to hang onto it. And to think God has given us the privilege of hearing these things and believing them and seeing them accomplished and loving them. These thoughts bloom in my mind, and I love it.

Carlee, remembering the last line of an old hymn ( And the toils of the road will seem nothing when I get to the end of the way), said "How can we come to the end of the way and have tags still hanging out of the door?"

Carlee speaking of her cancer: It's what is taking me home, so I love it.

It's the waiting-that is the thing.