Cecil L. Smith

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Cecil L. Smith, 85, Nevada, passed away Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2008, at Moore-Few Care Center, Nevada, following a lengthy illness. He was born Aug. 27, 1922, in Milford, Mo., to James Benjamin Smith and Mary M. Bridgewater Smith. He was married July 30, 1948, in Milo, to Flossie Juanita Snead and she preceded him, in death on Oct. 15, 1975.

Cecil was born in Milford, and came to Vernon County at a young age. He attended Milo schools and graduated from Nevada High School in 1941. He served in the United States Army during World War II from 1942 to 1945. He served in the European Theater of War and fought in the invasion of Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge and in Paris France and he received five Bronze Stars. Early in his life be worked for the Missouri. Pacific Railroad and later for the Missouri State Hospital in St. Louis. He worked at the Nevada State Hospital for 25 years until his retirement. He also farmed and raised cattle and was well known in the area of breaking horses. He was a member of the Milo Baptist Church, the Sheldon American Legion, the Brasher Cemetery Board and was a lifetime member of the Nevada Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Survivors include four sons, Dennis Lee Smith and his wife Debbie, Kirksville, Mo., Steven L. Smith and his wife Pam, Nevada, Richard L. Smith and his wife Cindy, Milo, and David Leon Smith and his wife Sharon, Gerard, Kan.; numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren; one brother, Elza Smith, Nevada, and one sister Pauline Yeates, Nevada, and numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to his wife Flossie, he was preceded in death by his parents and two infant daughters.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 5, at Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada, with Pastor Chad Bailey officiating. Interment will follow in Brasher Cemetery, Jerico Springs.

Friends may call now and until the hour of service at Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada. The family will receive ifiends at the funeral home Friday evening between 7 and 8 p.m.

Memorials may be made in his honor to the Bronaugh High School Future Farmers of America in care of the funeral home.