Velma V. Smith

Velma V. Smith, 101, of Mason City, IA, died Sunday, July 21, 2013, at the Heritage Care Center. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 A.M. on Friday, July 26, 2013, at Wesley United Methodist Church, 1405 S. Pennsylvania Avenue, with Rev. Keith Scott officiating. Interment will take place in the Laurens Cemetery in Laurens, IA. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the church service. Memorials may be directed to the Velma Smith memorial fund in care of the family. Velma Verta (Keele) Smith was born September 11, 1911, in Hendrickson, MO, the daughter of Harlin and Pearl (Sexton) Keele. She moved with her family at the age of seventeen (1929) to Rockwell City, IA, and later to Laurens, IA, where she graduated from high school in 1931. She married John Luverne Smith on September 5, 1933, in Marathon, IA. She later joined and was baptized in the Marathon Methodist Church. The couple moved to Rosco, MO. and farmed for two years. They moved back to Pocahontas County, IA and farmed there till 1946, when they moved to Sioux City, IA. Luverne was a trucker until 1955 when they moved to Sioux Falls, SD. While in Sioux Falls, Velma worked in Sioux Valley Hospital as a nurse’s aide and ward clerk. In 1958, they moved to Des Moines, IA where she worked as a ward clerk at Iowa Lutheran Hospital for twelve years. In 1970, they moved to Mason City, IA. She helped Luverne with his trucking for two years and then they were custodians at Wesley United Methodist Church. Later they were custodians and managers at the Westside Manor Apartments for two and a half years. She loved her family and friends. She enjoyed gardening and her tending to her flowers. She was an avid reader, sewed and crocheted all her life. Velma is survived by one daughter: Wanda Mosier of Mason City; two sons: Stanley Smith (Beverly) of Latrobe, PA, and Bradley Smith (Mary) of Mt. Vernon, WA; two sisters: Violet Felsing of Jensen Beach, FL, and Leva Johnson of Pomeroy, IA; seven grandchildren; twelve great grandchildren and four great great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband: Luverne in 1982; a three month old son: Gary Erwin in 1940; her parents in 1971; a seven year old granddaughter: Sarah Lynn Smith; three sisters: Verna Brown, Muriel Hemmerick and Atha Muller; one brother: Hollis Keele; and daughter-in-law: Patricia Smith.

Cemetery:
Interment will take place in the Laurens Cemetery in Laurens, IA

Memorials may be directed to the Velma Smith memorial fund in care of the family.

Visitation:
Visitation will be held one hour prior to the church service.

Service:
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 A.M. on Friday, July 26, 2013, at Wesley United Methodist Church