FALLS CITY – The Falls City City Council offered its consent Monday for a man, who lost his wife to cancer, to honor her at the very spot they met – Harlan Street and Highway 73.

Steven Smith of Lawrence, Kan., told the city council his wife passed on Feb. 18, after a nearly two-year battle with cancer. He wants to return to places important to them as a couple to spread some of her ashes.

Smith: “We met at the intersection of Highway 73 and Highway 8, in the southbound lanes on a cold December evening. I would love to make it a life as a circle, if  you will, and bring some of her ashes back to Falls City.”

Smith said he met Shanna 29 years ago while driving his ’83 Trans Am in the right lane on Highway 73. He said Shanna and some girls pulled up in a car beside him she said 'nice car.' He asked if she wanted a ride and her acceptance led to a first date soon after, before he left for the Army Reserves.

He said the public is invited to help celebrate Shanna’s life near the intersection on June 15 about an hour before sunset. Shanna Smith was born in Falls City in 1979 as was adopted by Daniel Kirkendall. She graduate from Falls City High School in 1997 and earned college degrees in marketing and psychology.

She married Steven Smith, a former Richardson County sheriff’s deputy, in 1998 and preceded him in death at the age of 45.

He asked to briefly close the street on a Sunday evening to say a few words about what happened when they first met and apply a small portion of her ashes.

City Administrator Anthony Nussbaum said it will be up to the state to approve a highway closure. He said if it is off the highway, police could assist with traffic control for a ceremony.