Details
About Ardyth “Ardy” Manning Farrell
She was born in Minot North Dakota in 1935 on October 6th to Zephon Merwin Smith and Hazel Fern Biggers Suhr.
She had an older brother Marwin and a younger sister Arlene. She married and gave birth to 4 children who she dedicated her life to. She moved up to Revelstoke, BC Canada for a time with 2 of her youngest children but the pull of Arizona and the desert brought her back to spend the remainder of her life in the Phoenix area. She was blessed with 10 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren.
Mom was a giving soul. She really would give her last dollar to help someone who might need it. If she found out our waitress was a single mom, that waitress was guaranteed to get a $20 tip even if we only had coffee. The fun and feisty side of mom? Oh gosh.. there are so many stories. One of our favorite pastimes with her was to go to restaurants and she would pretend to be rich and from another country. We had so much fun pretending to be famous people! If you came to our house on St. Patrick’s day be prepared for a very creative dinner!! She would get out the green food coloring. There would be green potatoes, milk, cake, and juice also. She worked in Canada as a supervisor at several restaurants in the Revelstoke area. She became a grandma for the very first time on April 4, 1981 and fell in love with her new role of being “Grannie”. She bought dozens and dozens of outfits for her new granddaughter. She continued to do this with all the grandkids to follow and whenever she went shopping she always came home with some pretty little dress or suspenders for whichever new grandbaby had just arrived. When she moved back to Arizona she continued that tradition. She raised all of us kids around the race track and when she moved back to Arizona she worked for decades at the race track until she retired at 79. She had 4 of us kids who she loved with all her heart and for the past 10 years of her life she also had 2 bonus kids; her best friend and grandson David Clift and her beloved granddaughter Amelia Napier. They came at a moment’s notice to help her if she needed them. David handled all her day to day needs and Amelia acted as her nurse. She was forever grateful to them both and felt so blessed to have them.
Mom is survived by her four children, DeeAnna Wane Clift “Dave”, Dale Scott Manning “Kate”, Kim Alyson Pendergast “Don”, and Karla Marie Leduc. Mom will be so very missed it’s hard to even put into words. She was our matriarch. She was the glue that held us all together. Her final wish was to be sprinkled over the Rocky Mountains so she would always be travelling. For her 90th birthday, October 6, 2025 in Clearwater, BC Canada we are all coming together as a family to make her last wish come true. Mom we love you and we miss you every day.
Arrangements by Bunker’s Garden Chapel, www.bunkerfuneral.com. Should this obituary appear anywhere but bunkerfuneral.com, please check our website for accurate details and service information.
