Doris Opal Smith

Doris Opal Smith, 92, Nevada, Mo., died Friday, Dec. 26, 2003, at Christian Health Care in Nevada following a lengthy illness. She was born Jan. 10, 1911, in Fulton, Kan., to Fred Eugene White and Laura Adline Higbie White. She married Ralph Hamblin Smith on Dec. 26, 1931 in Adrian, Mo. He preceded her in death on March 3, 1990.

Mrs. Smith was born and raised in Fulton, Kan., and attended college at Fort Scott Junior College and Pittsburg State. She came to Vernon County in 1932 and spent the rest of her life here. Doris was a schoolteacher teaching in Rich Hill, Metz, Nevada and at the State Hospital, retiring in 1976. She was a member of the First Christian Church in Nevada, the Order of the Eastern Star Chapter 53, Missouri School Teachers Association, Milo Get Together Club and ADK National Teachers Association.

Survivors include one son, Robert Smith, Milo, Mo.; three daughters, Wilma Irwin, Nevada, Mo., Marilyn Pitts, Greenwood, Mo., and Melva Keithley, Milo, Mo.; 11 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren; four sisters, Nellie Quick, Odessa, Mo., Velma Madison, Clara Bartlett and Eva Byerly, all of Sun City, Ariz.; and one brother, Russell White, Soap Lake, Wash. She was preceded in death by one great-grandson, Jason Coale; one great-great-granddaughter, Tesla Nelson, and one brother, Charles White.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 30, at Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada, Mo. Interment will follow in Newton Burial Park, Nevada, Mo. Friends may call now and until the hour of service and the family receives friends from 7 to 8 p.m., Monday, Dec. 29, at the funeral home.

Memorials may be given to the Nevada High School Scholarship Fund in her memory.