Obituary of Patricia Anne Smith

After nine full and joyous decades of life, Patricia Anne Smith passed away peacefully at the age of 90 on Saturday, May 23, 2015. Mrs. Smith was born June 20, 1924 in Wetumka, Oklahoma to Martha and Merle Busey. After graduating from Classen High School in Oklahoma City in 1942, she enrolled at the University of Arkansas, her grandfather’s alma mater. After two years, she left school to serve her country, working in the finance office of Camp Crowder in Neosho, Mo. during World War II. Following the war, Mrs. Smith worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone. In 1953, she married the love of her life, Robert Steen Smith—to whom she was married until his passing in 2012—and relocated with him to Tulsa. The Smiths were dedicated members of their community their entire lives, Mrs. Smith volunteered her time with the Assistance League of Tulsa and the Kiwanis Club. She worshipped at the First United Methodist Church of Tulsa. Mrs. Smith’s sense of humor and independent spirit will live on in her children, Robin Anne Libby Mason of Kiefer, Oklahoma, and Craig Busey Smith and his wife Kathryn Jo Smith of Dallas, Texas; her five grandchildren, Barbara Anne Niedergerke, Montgomery Perry Smith, Robert Scott Kessler, Nathan Craig Smith, and Erin Elizabeth Kessler; and her great-grandson, Kyle Thomas Niedergerke. In lieu of flowers, the Smith family asks that donations be made to her favorite charity, Smile Train, Box 96231, Washington, D.C. 20090-6231, or St. Francis Hospice at 6600 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, Ok. 74136, which ensured Mrs. Smith’s final days were as peaceful as possible. Friends and family are invited to celebrate Mrs. Smith’s life at a memorial service on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at Montereau, her cherished community of 11 years, 6800 S. Granite Ave., Tulsa, Ok. Ninde Brookside Chapel ninde.com 918-742-5556