Obituary
Liza Elizabeth DeNitto Smith
24 March, 1975 – 28 February, 2012
Liza DeNitto Smith, 37, professional wildland firefighter, phlebotomist, chef, fitness fanatic and friend to all animals took her own life this last week in Sarasota, Florida. While a Fire Fighter for the US Forest Service Liza was a resident of Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Albuquerque. Liza worked on many firefighting crews and fought fire throughout the United States.
Liza was a wonderful woman, full of life and energy. She was a joy to be around and an excellent firefighter. She had a loud infectious laugh, a room-brightening smile, and was wicked intelligent. She spent several seasons with Santa Fe Helitack in Los Alamos and later with Sandia Helitack in Albuquerque. Her last fire season was a rough one. In 2010 she was attacked and brutally beaten to the point of death, but was brought back to life and given another chance. The incident required multiple surgeries, and it left her with post traumatic stress and bouts of depression. Liza was more than up to the challenge of handling these psychological set-backs. Due to this near death experience, which changed her life forever, she left fire-fighting altogether to take up a new career in nursing.
Shortly before Liza’s death her mother passed away after a hard battle with cancer. It scared Liza to think one day she might go the same way. We can only imagine what she felt and thought in her last few days. She decided to go out on her own terms. She will be missed.
Liza was a badass. She was a fire fighter, a helitack crewmember and manager. She could do twenty pull-ups. She could run a seven-minute mile. All at 37. She saved people and homes, loved the outdoors and animals, and was a true American hero.
Liza’s Ashes will be interred next to her mother and grandmother at Christ Church Cemetery, Irvington, Virginia, 10 March 2012. In lieu of flowers, if you wish to honor her, please make a memoriam in her name to your local animal shelter. Please celebrate her life for her.
--------------------
We forget that the women (and men) who pose for our pleasure also have complex lives.
Read more tributes to her WildlandFire.com. http://www.wildlandfire.com/arc/2012c_mar.php