Obituary of Robert Lee Smith

Robert "Smitty" Smith was born February 2, 1932 in Omaha, Nebraska. He was adopted by Elsie and Glen Smith of Hamburg, Iowa and spent his "growing up" years in Hamburg. Bob served two years in the U.S. Army, most of that time in Korea where he was wounded. On April 30, 1978, Bob was united in marriage with Bernice Lorene Brush Jay in Lynnville, Iowa. He retired in 1980 from the Newton Post Office where he worked for 30 years. He has since kept busy by selling wood and coal stoves and furnaces and by planting a large garden. Bob enjoyed canning and cooking and loved baking bread and cookies to give to others. He also had a life-long love of Basenji dogs. Bob and Bernice loved to travel in the U.S. and had visited 28 foreign countries, five of them as Friendship Force Ambassadors. He was a member of the Sully Community Church. Bob died on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. He was 78 years old. Those left to honor Bob's memory include his wife Bernice of Lynnville; his daughters, "Bo" Drye of Indianola, Iowa and Gigi Anthony of Des Moines, Iowa; his step daughters, Beth Haug of Pleasant Hill, Iowa and Jody Nielsen of Pensacola, Florida; his grandchildren, Lexie Drye, Sara Kern, Sean Anthony, Alyssa and Lexie Nielsen, Aaron Haug and Jessica Toohey; and his three great grandchildren, Tyler Johnson, Jaden Kern and Natalie Kern. Funeral service will be held 1:30 p.m. Saturday, October 9, 2010 at the Sully Community Church. Friends may greet the family at the Pence ~ Reese Funeral Home in Newton from 5:00 till 7:00 p.m. Friday. Memorials may be designated to the Lynnville Historical Society or Iowa Heart Center.