Smith, Sadie (Bertha) 1888-1985

SMITH, SPETH, ALLEY

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 4/19/2011 at 12:10:10

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; Nov. 21, 1985

SADIE SMITH RITES FRIDAY

Bertha Smith, 96, died Monday afternoon, Nov. 18, in the Mayflower Home Health Care Center.

Funeral services will be conducted at 1 p.m. Friday at the Smith Funeral Home, with the Rev. Raymond Lott, pastor of the Grinnell United Methodist Church, officiating. Organist will be Kathleen Heffner. Burial will be in Sheridan Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the Grinnell United Methodist Church and left at the funeral home.

She was the daughter of John Albert and Amelia Speth Smith and was born on Dec. 13, 1888, in Sheridan Township. Her father drowned in Bear Creek when she was 2 1/2, and her mother married William W. Alley in 1896.

She attended Grinnell schools, graduating from high school in 1910. She later received an education degree from Drake University.

Miss Smith taught for 43 years, 41 of them in the Grinnell school system at Davis Elementary School. She was the oldest continuous member of the Grinnell United Methodist Church. She was also a member of Beulah Chapter No. 47, Order of Eastern Star, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

There are no immediate survivors. She was preceded in death by her half-brother, G. Roger Alley, and her parents.