Dennis Keith Smith, 72, who resided Colorado Springs, Colorado passed away on December 11, 2025. He was born on February 16, 1953 in Pensacola, Florida to Lloyd Terrel Smith & Susie Rebecca Smith (Jones). As a child, he spent all his time outside, exploring with neighborhood friends and leaving pennies on the train tracks near his home. Dennis went to high school at Tate High School in Cantonment, Florida and graduated in 1971.

Dennis joined the Air Force in 1971 with his initial career field in teletype maintenance. He eventually cross-trained into communications and, finally, into radar and satellite ground-station maintenance. His Air Force career took him to Texas, Florida, Thailand, Mississippi, California, Germany, Indiana, Denver, Diego Garcia, and, finally, Colorado Springs where he retired – always making friends everywhere he went. He did this all while supporting and raising a family with two children. He retired from the Air Force in Colorado Springs one day and started work with Honeywell the next, continuing an 18-year civilian career in satellite ground-station maintenance. This job took him to remote places including Greenland, The Seychelles, Diego Garcia again, Hawaii, and throughout the United States. Dennis met and married his second wife, Shauna, in 2006 while working at the Vandenberg AFB Tracking Station in Lompoc, California.

Dennis loved his Southern roots, Southern food, and always stayed close to all of his relatives in The South. Dennis lived life to the fullest through so many hobbies including hiking 27 state high-points, climbing over 20 “Fourteener” mountains in Colorado, biking, square dancing, rock-climbing, rafting, woodworking, ceramics, working on the Volkswagen Thing with his son, climbing the Manitou Incline with his daughter, traveling every summer with the grandkids as far as Alaska, canoeing and kayaking, and visiting all National Parks, Monuments, and Historical Sites west of the Mississippi with his “Shauna Belle”. In celebration of beating leukemia for a second time, Dennis completed a bucket-list item of transforming part of the backyard into a koi pond, where he spent many hours sitting feeding his fish. Above all, Dennis cherished and loved his family and always made them a priority.

He is survived by his wife, Shauna Smith (Grider); his daughter Kimberly Musselman and husband Randy Musselman; his son Brian Smith and wife Christy Smith; the light-of-his-life grandchildren Alexandra Baum (Musselman) and husband Jon Baum; Amber Jensen (Musselman) and husband Collin Jensen; Bryson Smith, Megan Smith, and Luke Smith; his reason-to-fight great-grandson Shepherd (“Sheep Herder”) Jensen; and his brother Doug Smith.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Brent’s Place at brentsplace.org. This organization went above and beyond to take care of Dennis and Shauna during Dennis’s successful stem-cell transplant to cure his second bout with leukemia.

A Celebration of Life will be held on December 26 at 10:00am at The Springs Funeral Services located at 3115 E. Platte Ave, Colorado Springs. Following will be a military-honors ceremony at 12:00pm at Pikes Peak National Cemetery. An open reception will follow at the Smiths’ residence. For those who cannot attend the Celebration of Life, it will be live-streamed at http://client.tribucast.com/tcid/f25127787213128

at 10:00am MT.