Lana Smoot Edwards, 82, of Boynton Beach died peacefully at home surrounded by her family on November 2, 2023, a year and a half after being diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer.

Lana was born to Claude and Eula Powell Smoot on June 13, 1941 in Elkin, North Carolina. When Lana was 16, her family moved to Boynton Beach. Her first job was at Nelson Sales Company as an office manager, where she met her husband David Edwards in 1959. They married on October 15, 1960 and had two daughters. In 1966, Mr. C.Y. Byrd hired her as a bookkeeper at the prestigious Delray law firm that he had established in 1923. She worked there for 48 years until her retirement in 2014.

Lana loved nature and spent hours at a time tending her butterfly garden. She took dozens of trips around Florida and across the U.S. to chase butterflies with her daughter Alana. Because of her love of butterflies, Lana co-founded the Atala Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association and served as treasurer for 28 years. She spent hundreds of hours behind the scenes organizing the details for the yearly Palm Beach County butterfly counts and was recently honored by the Florida State Parks for 25 years of butterfly data collection at Highlands Hammock State Park.

When not in her garden or chasing butterflies, she enjoyed crossword puzzles, watching golf (especially if Tiger was playing) and reading books on her iPad. She always looked forward to holiday cookie baking with her daughters (as did her friends and neighbors who enjoyed them). She was concerned about the state of our democracy and donated her time and money to support the Blue Wave. She also had a huge heart for the less fortunate, donating often to people in need.

Lana was predeceased by her parents, her brother Dennis Smoot, and her sister Emily Smith. She leaves behind her husband David of 63 years; her daughters, Lynn Edwards, Marion, NC and Alana Edwards (Cary Nicolo), Delray Beach; her grandchildren, Erin Hernandez (Pedro), Morganton, NC and Jason Sheppard (Shereece), Clyde, NC; her sister Maggie Terry, Boca Raton; her brother Ray Smoot (Nancy), Delray Beach; her nieces, Laurie Smith, Wendy Smith, and Susan McGovern; and her nephews, Jon and Robert Smoot.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to one of Lana's favorite causes: NABA, Feeding America , or ActBlue .

A celebration of life will be held in January. Contact the family for details.