Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith (née Stanley) (24 April 1903 – 6 December 1991) was the maternal aunt and parental guardian of the English musician John Lennon. Mimi was born in Liverpool, England and was the oldest of five daughters. She became a resident trainee nurse at the Woolton Convalescent Hospital, and later worked as a private secretary. On 15 September 1939, she married George Smith, who ran his family's dairy farm and a shop in Woolton; a suburb of Liverpool.

After Mimi's younger sister, Julia Lennon, separated from her husband, she and her son (Lennon) moved in with a new partner, but Mimi contacted Liverpool's Social Services and complained about little John sleeping in the same bed as the two adults. Julia was eventually persuaded to hand the care of Lennon over to the Smiths. Lennon lived with them for most of his childhood, and remained close to her, even though she was highly dismissive of his musical ambitions, his girlfriends, and wives.

She often told the teenage Lennon that "The guitar's all right John, but you'll never make a living out of it". Despite later losing touch with other family members, Lennon kept in close contact and telephoned Mimi every week until his death in 1980. Lennon bought her a bungalow in Poole, Dorset, where she lived until her death in 1991. The Smiths' house in Liverpool was later donated to the The National Trust.

John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founder members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Together with Paul McCartney, he formed one of the most celebrated songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.

Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved as a teenager in the skiffle craze; his first band, The Quarrymen, evolved into The Beatles in 1960. As the group disintegrated towards the end of the decade, Lennon embarked on a solo career that produced the critically acclaimed albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine". After his marriage to Yoko Ono in 1969, he changed his name to John Ono Lennon. Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to raising his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the new album Double Fantasy. He was murdered three weeks after its release.