Mrs. May LaMotte (Smith) Hoerter, age 92 of Lebanon died January 17 in Lexington after a short illness. She was born in Lebanon on May 11, 1921, and was the daughter of William Lancaster Smith and Dorothy Elinor (Spalding) Smith. She was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, George J. Hoerter.

She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Plantagenet Society, Sovereign Colonial Society of American Royal Descent, National Society of Magna Charta Dames and Barons, Society of Descendants of Knights of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, National Society Daughters of the Americans Colonists, National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century, Order of the Crown of Charlemagne, and the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels.

As the wife of a career Air Force officer and pilot, she journeyed far from her small hometown to many stateside assignments as well as to overseas posts in Japan, Pakistan, and England, with many stops in between. She was an oral historian and born storyteller, generous to a fault and with her strong opinions, a woman of high fashion and expectations, and a devout Catholic whose prayer for a peaceful death was fulfilled. She passed in grace surrounded by her family.

She was preceded in death by her parents and husband as well as her sister, Margaret Caroline Smith, and her brothers, William Lancaster Smith and Samuel Spalding Smith. She is survivied by her children, George Joseph Hoerter (Eureka), Dorothy Spalding Lewis (John), Sam Spalding Hoerter (Nancy), and Mollie Simms Washburne (Richard), and grandchildren Amye LaMotte Lewis, Elinor Spalding Lewis, Alison Kimi Matsunaga, Joseph Adam Hoerter, Samuel Benjamin Washburne, and George Hoerter Washburne.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Lebanon on January 21 at 11:00 a.m., with visitations from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., January 20, at Bosley Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers please make donations to Our Lady of the Mountains School, 405 Third Street, Paintsville, KY 40241.