Smardack, Lena Petronella 1900-1998

SMARDACK, WARNELLY, KEMFERT, PALMER, COLLINGE

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 4/7/2013 at 16:43:55

The Montezuma (IA) Republican; Feb. 18, 1998

LENA SMARDACK, 97

Lena Petronella Smardack, 97, of Grinnell, died Tuesday afternoon, February 3, 1998 at the Mayflower Health Center in Grinnell.

A funeral mass was said at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Grinnell on Friday, Feb. 6. Celebrant was Rev. William Reynolds of St. Mary's.

An interment service was also held Feb. 9 at St. Casimir Lithuanian Cemetery in Chicago.

The daughter of Joseph and Petronella Warnelly, Lena was born May 18, 1900 in Lithuania. A citizen of Latvia, she came to America with her family when she was 12-years-old.

She was self-schooled and at the age of 16, she moved to Chicago. Lena went to work for Western Electric and was always proud of her career.

In 1923, she married Bruno Alexander Smardack in Chicago. They had one son and two daughters.

She lived most of her life in the Chicago area.

In 1982, she moved to Grinnell and became a resident of the Mayflower Home. Here, she was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and Sit and Knit.

She enjoyed cooking, baking, needlework and pinochle.

She was preceded in death by her parents; a son, Bruno Alexander Smardack; her husband, Bruno Alexander Smardack; three brothers, Alex, Joseph and Charlie; and one sister, Emma Kempfert.

She is survived by two daughters and their husbands, Dorothy and Phil Palmer of Grinnell and LaVerne and Gerald Collinge of Peoria, Ill.; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

Arrangements were by Watts Funeral Home of Montezuma.