Madeline Henderson Smith

Madeline Henderson Smith was born October 9, 1994 and died Saturday January 28, 2017. She was the daughter of Brian Smith and Terri Henderson, sister of Bennett D.H. Smith, stepdaughter of Fran Martini, and friend and loved one to so many more.

Maddie was uniquely herself from the day she was born. A tomboy by the age three, she refused to wear dresses or the color pink. Her favorites clothes as a child were basketball shorts, Hawaiian shirts, and a baseball cap worn backwards. She didn’t want to dress up as a ballerina or princess for Halloween like the other little girls – she wanted to be Batman so she could be a hero. As she got older she became a beautiful young woman but kept her tomboyish tendencies along with a quirky sense of humor and a love for nature that often took her to one of her favorite spots in the city, Eagle Creek Park. She traveled frequently to Florida with her dad and stepmother where she spent many nights on the beach and learned to scuba dive.
Maddie was a sweet, loving, sensitive person with a free and open spirit. The most beautiful part of her spirit was her kindness and caring for everyone (strangers and all) who was in need, who might be suffering, or who might be marginalized for any reason. She loved old movies, music, her little brother, ripped blue jeans, tattoos, playing drums, mountains, flowers, and her cat (who she named Batman). Although we lost her too early, we are forever grateful for the 22 years she was with us – and she will be remembered, eternally, by all who loved her.
“Full many a flower was born to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on the desert air.” – William Butler Yeats
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to one of these charities:
Planned Parenthood of Indiana – https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parentho…
PFLAG – https://www.pflag.org/
Human Rights Campaign – http://www.hrc.org/