Obituary Details

Gerald "Jerry" Albion Smith

(04/11/1884 - 03/19/1954)
Courtesy of Lusk Free Lance, 03/25/1954

Rites for Gerald Smith, Platte County Rancher, At Guernsey, Monday

Funeral services were held for the late Gerald Albion Smith, prominent Platte County rancher, Monday afternoon in Guernsey, Wyo. The deceased passed away suddenly on Friday, Mar. 19th, when he was stricken with a heart attack.

Gerald Albion Smith was born at Fairbury, Nebr., April 11th, 1884. His parents were Frank H. and Rosetta Mowry Smith. Most of his youth was spent in Loup and Dawes counties, in Nebraska working on ranches. He came to Wyoming in 1926, after he had suffered the loss of his left hand. Even though handicapped he learned to blacksmith trade.

On March 25, 1930, he married Lora Frances Smith, recently arrived from Old Mexico, where she had taught in a Congregational Missionary school for 15 years.

They located on a ranch 19 miles north of Guernsey, which they later purchased. Their home was made happier by their nephew, Buell Eugene Smith, who at the age of nine days made his home with them following the death of his mother in January 1931.

Mr. Smith and his wife were members of the Manville Community church and enjoyed the fellowship of other members of the church and its pastor, Rev. Richard Ward and family. Mrs. Smith had requested her friends to give to a "memorial for Jerry" in the Manville Community Church rather than so many flowers.

Survivors include his widow, Lora, his nephew, Eugene, who is stationed with military forces in Germany; a sister Mrs. Zilma Bryson of Alliance, Nebr., his brother, Frank Smith of Stellacoom, Wash., and Fred Smith, who lives near his brother's ranch in Platte County.

Attending the services from Lusk were Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Whelan and Lou J. Bass.

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