Merle Clifford Smith

SMITH STROUPE

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 4/12/2010 at 14:48:15

Sioux City Journal
18 January 2003

Merle C. Smith, 83, of Sioux City died Friday, Jan. 17, 2003, in Sioux City following a lengthy illness.

Memorial services will be 2 p.m. Monday at St. James United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Bernie Colorado officiating. Graveside services will be at a later date. Visitation will be 7 to 8:30 p.m. today, with the family present, at the church. Christy-Smith Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Merle Clifford was born Dec. 21, 1919, in Pierson, Iowa. He later moved to Sioux City and graduated from East High School. He served in the U.S. Air Force as an aerial photographer. He was wounded at Saipan and given a medical discharge in 1944.

On July 26, 1941, he married Jacqueline Stroupe. He worked at Chicago Northwestern Railroad as night mail foreman. He later started his own business, Smith Floor & Janitor. In 1970, the Veterans Administration told him he could no longer work because of his disability. He volunteered his time to help others. The DAV (Disabled American Veterans) put a Watts line in his home so he could talk to veterans across Iowa.

Gov. Robert Ray appointed him to the Iowa Commission for Persons with Disabilities, where he served 20 years and received the Distinguished Service Award. Merle founded the Siouxland Committee for the Handicapped. In his effort to lower transportation costs for the disabled, he served on the city Transit Board. For three years he traveled to Washington, D.C., and served on President Carter's Committee on Transportation.

Merle was an active member of St. James United Methodist Church, holding almost every position from teaching Sunday school to being head usher. He was a member of the Morningside American Legion and the Disabled American Veterans of Sergeant Bluff.

Survivors include his wife, Jacqueline; two children, Merlyne Smith of Sioux City and Michael Smith and his wife, Vicki of Wadena, Minn.; two grandchildren, Christine and Daniel; and three sisters, Elma and her husband, Bob Steckelberg, Marge and her husband, Dean Stoll, and Norma Law.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Bertha Law.

Memorials may be directed to St. James United Methodist Church in Sioux City.