My Grandma passed away August 19th, 2013. I have been working on this post and putting off publishing it because I wanted to add childhood pics at Grandma's house of myself, brother, and cousins, but who knows when I would manage. So here's the post :)
Grandma's obituary as it appeared in the newspaper:
Betty
Louise Johnston Smith was born on March 14, 1922. She grew up a tomboy
in Poland, daughter of Laura Lou Howell and Chad Johnston, Fire Chief of
the Poland Fire Department and prominent hardware merchant for the
Johnston Hardware Company.
Upon graduating from nursing school, she
joined the Army Nursing Corp. She was being shipped to support the
invasion of Japan when war plans changed. She was then stationed in the
Philippines, where she met her husband, Clark Smith of Akron. They were
married after the war and lived in Poland until 1953, when they moved to
Daingerfield, Texas.
Clark worked until retirement at the Lone Star
Steel Company and she worked as a nurse at the M&S Hospital in
Pittsburg, Texas. They retired and moved to a 60 acre farm in Pittsburg
in 1976. Clark passed away Aug. 9, 1986.
Betty served as a volunteer
for several organizations in Pittsburg and made many friends along the
way. She lived on the home place in Pittsburg until her death on Aug.
19, 2013 at the age of 91.
She is survived by two sons, Clark Smith
Jr. and wife Linda of Fort Worth, Texas and Fletcher Smith and wife
Linda of Tyler, Texas; grandson Charles Stewart (Chad) Smith and wife
Katie of Glendora, Calif.; granddaughter Allison Buffo and husband Jim
of Minneapolis; granddaughters Karen Luhrs and husband Scott of Tyler,
Texas and Jessica O’Keeffe and husband Alan of Brooklyn, N.Y.; seven
great-grandchildren, Sophia, Emily, Sullivan Smith, Tyler and Calvin
Buffo, and Anne and Abby Luhrs, and two dogs, Salt and Princess.
Grandma on Tony the Pony her trick horse and with her parents, Laura and Charles Johnston.
Grandma on her wedding day.
Grandpa, my dad, Uncle Clark, and Grandma
Anne and Abby fishing at Great Grandma's.
The girls both caught their first fish at Grandma's lake.
Abby and Grandma
Grandma and Sofia, my brother Chad's oldest daughter, at the beach.
Granny, Anne, and Grandma at her big 90th birthday celebration.
This picture was at Cousin Jessica's
wedding reception in Ft. Worth.
Grandma and I celebrating her 91st birthday!
Below is what I read at Grandma's Memorial Service:
Our
grandmother passed away Monday, August 19th and we miss her greatly. A few days
later I sat down to sort out all the memories I have of her. Grandma was a big part of our lives so those
memories are varied, vivid, and numerous. As I thought about what Grandma had
provided, Chad, Allison, Jessica and me I realized that these weren’t just
memories they were blessings, blessings that are too numerous to count,
blessings ultimately from our heavenly Father.
Grandma
always prompted us to try new things and encouraged our individual interests
from baseball to horseback riding, cross country running to cheer leading. One
incident in particular illustrates this quality. Jessica had recently attended Charm School
and was eager to share the beauty secrets she had learned. Over the phone she
imparted the ingredients for a wrinkle reducing facial mask to Grandma who
proceeded to mix up this miracle recipe. According to Grandma, she then took
the bowl of beauty into the bedroom, lay down on her bead, and poured on the
mask. She lay there for a few minutes as the oatmeal based mixture dripped down
her face, oozed into her ears, and slithered down her neck. It didn’t take long
for Grandma to realize that something wasn’t quite right, the mask failed to harden,
and the wrinkles were just like they were when she began the process.
Grandma
sought to broaden our horizons. She was well traveled and often took her
grandchildren with her on these adventures. Grandma was in her seventies when
she took fourteen year old Allison and Chad
on a backpacking trip across Europe. Recently,
Allison read over the journal Grandma
kept on this trip and reported that the first page began with the line, “I
think I’ve made a mistake.” That probably because Chad had suffered from motion
sickness on the airplane and continued to be sick after they landed while
Allison suffered from nightmares. There were good
memories too, like drinking hot
chocolate together every night in London; getting lost in Paris at close to midnight; leaving
Chad and Allison sitting outside a pub in London so Grandma could have a pint
of bitters; Chad and Allison getting caught in a hail storm on the top of a
mountain in Switzerland; the three of them getting lost hiking in search of a
waterfall they could hear but never find; rushing away from a great meal in
Italy convinced that all their worldly possessions had been stolen by a man
they had met at the train station; Ricki,
the bee farmer, in Venice. Whatever it was, Grandma was always up for the
adventure.
She loved us well. I know that because only love would prompt someone to host
four loud and rowdy kids in her home each summer. Those are the richest
memories for me: picking up litter on the roadside, walking to get the paper,
fishing, building forts, painting t-shirts, going to the movies, playing
endless games of monopoly, riding in the trunk of grandma’s car, calling bingo
at the nursing home, swimming, helping in the garden, stacking cans at the
Helping Hands Store, the train museum. I could go on and on . . .
I
was thinking about how abundantly rich our lives are because of the way Grandma
loved us. I realize that it’s something that can’t be truly comprehended
because we will never know what life would have been like without her love and
service. It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13:1.” We don't yet see things
clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long
before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see
it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!”
Grandma, Betty Lou, was one of the many gracious gifts from God in our lives. I
believe that many of you think of her as a gift from God in your lives as well.
My prayer is that as you think of what Grandma meant to you, you also know the
most precious gift from God, salvation through Jesus Christ his Son who said,
“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
die. Believest thou this?
Before
I conclude I wanted to leave you with a few timeless words of wisdom from Grandma:
Chivalry
is dead
Be
upstanding
Lord,
give me strength
I
was never bored as a child
We’ll
cross that bridge when we come to it
Breathe
in and out
Why
don’t you kids go outside and play.
Everything
in moderation.
Let
the air get to it.
May
everyone be as fortunate to have a “grandma” like ours in your life.
