James Lee Smith, 30 May 1947 - 30 Sept 2017

SMITH, RANDOLPH, PEPEMEYER, MCCUSKER, CALIGNER, HAMED, JOHNSON, NEWVILLE

Posted By: Sandy Ficken (email)
Date: 7/2/2018 at 15:18:32

James L. Smith, age 70, of Cedar Rapids and formerly of Victor, died on Saturday, September 30, 2017, at his home.

A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, October 6, 2017, at the Victor United Methodist Church with Pastor Jim Davis officiating. Casket bearers are Emmitt Hamed, Eric Smith, Dave Smith, Neal Smith, Ken Boddicker, and Gary Wintringer. Interment will be in Victor Memorial Cemetery.

Visitation will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday at the Smith Funeral Home in Victor and Jim's family will greet friends from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Thursday evening.

Memorials may be designated to the James L. Smith Memorial Fund and mailed in care of the Smith Funeral Home, PO Box 485, Victor, IA 52347. Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.smithfh.com .

James Lee Smith was born the son of George Louis Smith and Hazel Darlene (Randolph) Smith on May 30, 1947, in Kinross, Iowa. He was raised in Ladora, Iowa and graduated from HLV High School in Victor with the class of 1965.

Jim moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and began his longtime career with the United States Postal Service. He was united in marriage to Diana Pepemeyer on June 9, 1972 in Cedar Rapids and to this union was born a son, Eric and a daughter, Sarah. Their marriage later ended in divorce. He was united in marriage to Alberta McCusker on June 28, 1990 in Cedar Rapids. The couple later divorced but remained close friends. He was married to Editha Caligner on December 5, 2009, in Marengo, Iowa and they continued to live in Cedar Rapids. Jim retired from the US Postal Service in 2014 after a long career of 33 years. He was a member of the Ladora United Methodist Church.

Jim was a simple man who dearly loved his family. He took great pride in the appearance of his yard and tending to his vegetable garden. His hobbies were playing golf, playing softball on the local United States Postal Service team, traveling overseas, watching the Iowa Hawkeyes and golf on television, visiting with his friends and neighbors, and going to the casinos.

Jim is survived by his wife, Editha Smith of Cedar Rapids; son, Eric Smith of Burlington, Iowa; daughter Sarah (Emmitt) Hamed of Center Point, Iowa; three grandchildren, Kiersten and Jaxon Hamed of Center Point and Khloee Smith of Burlington; two siblings, Gary (Penny) Johnson of Arlington, Texas and Bonnie (Jim) Newville of Hot Desert Springs, California. He was preceded in death by his father and mother; and sister, Connie Smith.

Smith Funeral Home
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