Smith, Opal 1915-1998

SMITH, SLAGLE, COOPER, BURNHAM, LEAVELLE

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 1/27/2014 at 10:19:31

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register
Feb. 2, 1998

OPAL SMITH

Opal Smith, 82, of Friendship Manor died Wednesday, Jan. 28, at Grinnell Regional Medical Center.

Funeral services were conducted Saturday at the Smith Funeral Home, with the Rev. Ken Wallace, pastor of the Newburg-Chester United Church of Christ-Congregational, officiating. Organist was Ann Buchmeier, and pallbearers were Kevin, Brian, Toney, Ben and Lennie Smith; Steve Davis; and Chris Wright.

Burial was in Hickory Grove Cemetery.

The daughter of Alvin and Martha Jane Slagle Cooper, she was born March 16, 1915, in Monticello, Ky. She moved with her family to Jasper County where she was raised. She attended rural school near Kellogg and was a 1933 graduate of Newburg High School.

She was married to Luverne R. Smith Dec. 21, 1934, in Newton. They farmed in Hickory Grove Township west of Newburg prior to moving to Newburg in 1973. They retired from farming in 1990, and since September 1997 she had been a resident of Friendship Manor.

Mrs. Smith was a member of the Newburg-Chester United Church of Christ-Congregational, where she taught Sunday School and was active in the Women's Fellowship. She also attended the Hickory Grove Church and was a member of the Ladies Aid. She was a longtime member of the Farm Bureau.

Surviving are two children, Terry Smith of Grinnell and Nancy Burnham of Kellogg; one sister, Louise "Rosie" Leavelle of Palm Springs, Calif.; two brothers, Everett Cooper and Alvin Cooper Jr., both of Kellogg; eight grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and 10 brothers and sisters.