LEVI SMITH,

a native of New Orleans, La., and recently living and teaching in the Little Rock, Ark. area passed away on December 2, 2023, at the tender age of 46.

He is survived by his mother, Moonyeen Hooper of New Orleans. He was preceded in death by his father, Riley Franklin Smith, of Loveland, Colo.

He leaves a great extended family including his stepmother Elizabeth Heddens Smith of Loveland, Colo., his aunt, Mary Gayle Smith Carleton of Vicksburg, Miss., and many cousins from the Hooper, Rust and Carleton families.

He is fondly remembered by his delightful students from the Archild Preschool and Child Development Center, Director Marti Dush, and the amazing staff and students who worked and played with him every day.

He is sadly missed by his friends, Kathy Allen and Family of Ponchatoula, La. and Austin, Texas, Chacitie Fullwood, Wes Howerton and Brandon Jackson of Control Records, Little Rock, Ark., Destan Histand of Louisiana and Rhode Island, precious pet cats, Bruno and Janice, and numerous friends and colleagues from New Orleans.

Levi was a person of many talents. He was a teacher and philosopher, a writer of prose and poetry, an artist and photographer, a musician, composer and connoisseur of all genres of music, as evidenced by his vast collection of vinyl records from the last several decades.

He was kind and considerate, and was best loved by children and seniors, but could be somewhat cantankerous with those in between. As the family says, he had his little ways.

Levi’s guestbook can be signed at www.smithfamilycares.com.