Gertrude Elizabeth "Trudy" (Heitman) Smith (2019)

COBLER, HEITMAN, SMITH, SPETMAN

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 11/8/2023 at 18:02:52

Wright Funeral Home
Brookfield, Missouri

Gertrude (Trudy) Elizabeth Smith, age 82 of Marceline, formerly of Brookfield, passed away, Thursday, September 19, 2019, at Pioneer Skilled Nursing in Marceline.

Funeral services will be Monday, September 23, 2019, at 3:00 p.m. at Wright Funeral Home in Brookfield with Pastor Joel Kidwell officiating. Burial will be in Rose Hill Cemetery in Brookfield. The family will receive friends Monday from 2:00 p.m. until the time of service at the funeral home.

Memorials to the Linn County 4-H Fair, may be left at or mailed to Wright Funeral Home, P.O. Box 496, Brookfield, MO 64628.

Trudy, born in Council Bluffs, Iowa on December 31, 1936, was the youngest of four children of Henry E. Heitman and Olive Julia (Spetman) Heitman. She was the granddaughter of German Lutheran immigrants who homesteaded in the area known as Plumer Settlement or Kanesville, which is now known as Council Bluffs. She was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Church of Council Bluffs, Iowa. She was a current member of the Trinity United Methodist Church in Brookfield.

Raised on a farm, she was bilingual as a child, speaking both English and German. Having lost her father at the age of 10, in her teens she moved to Earlham, Iowa with her mother. She graduated from Earlham High School in 1955.

On September 2, 1956, she was united in marriage to Thomas L. Smith. They farmed in the Earlham, Iowa area until the early 60’s. They relocated to Traer, Iowa where they farmed and operated the Traer Auction Company livestock auction. Trudy was the office manager and bookkeeper. They later moved to the Lincoln, Missouri area before moving to Brookfield, Missouri in 2001 to raise cattle.

Trudy was a homemaker, bookkeeper, auction clerk, a very capable hand on the farm, and an avid follower of her children’s and grandchildren’s involvement in 4-H, school and sporting events. In her younger years she was an avid seamstress and gardener, preserving much of the produce.
She loved being outdoors and worked with her husband Tom raising and buying cattle.

She is survived by her husband, Thomas L. Smith, Brookfield; son, Mark Smith and wife, Becky of Lincoln, Missouri; son, Michael R. Smith and wife, Tina of Brookfield, Missouri; daughter, Teresa Cobler and husband, Tony of Ottumwa, Iowa; and son, Timothy H. Smith and wife, Shannon of Indianola, Iowa; ten grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters and her brother.

Link to Memorial
 

Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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