Obituary of Opal F. Smith

Services for Opal Smith, 92, of Spencer will be 10:30 am Saturday, March 22, 2014 at Turner Jenness Funeral Home in Milford. Visitation will be one hour prior to service at the funeral home. Interment will be at Fairview Cemetery in Terril. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established in Opal's memory. Opal Faye Smith, the daughter of Hazel Viola Blum (Will) and W.E. (Stub) Blum, was born December 28, 1921 in Terril, Iowa .Opal grew up on the family farm located south of Terril, Iowa. Opal attended school in Terril, Iowa. She excelled in academics and other activities, including theater productions in Okoboji. After leaving high school, she married Clarence Duane Olsen in Jackson, Minnesota. Their marriage produced three children, Vicki Jo, Steven Douglas and Jeffery Alan. During World War II, Opal resided in Medical Lake, Washington while her husband was serving in the Army Medical corps in the Philippines. During this period, Opal worked in the Washington State Mental Hospital while also raising her three small children. Opal remained in Medical Lake for several years after her husband's discharge from the Army. Opal and the family moved to Cherokee, Iowa in the summer of 1949. Opal worked for the Iowa State Mental Hospital during the years she lived in Cherokee. Opal divorced her husband in 1954, and she and her three children moved to Sioux City, Iowa. In Sioux City, Opal worked in the claims department for Mutual of Omaha. Opal met Wallace (Wally) Smith and they were married in Nashua, Iowa at the Little Brown Church in the Vale in November 1956. Opal and Wally lived in several cities in the subsequent years, including Wilson, North Carolina, Rochelle, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. Opal worked for a group of doctors while living in St. Louis...When Wally retired from Swift and Company, they moved back to Iowa. Opal and Wally lived on an acreage located south of Terrill, Iowa not too far from the farm where she was raised. Opal and Wally later moved to a home not far from East Lake Okoboji, Iowa. During their retirement years Opal and Wally kept busy raising rabbits and chickens, growing and harvesting huge gardens, tending to many flower gardens, keeping up the large properties on which their homes were located. Opal spent countless, happy hours canning vegetables and preparing chickens and rabbits for freezing. Opal gained renown for her cooking and baking expertise. Visitors to the Smiths were always treated to pans of bars and other baked goods. Opal and Wally enjoyed hosting and entertaining their respective children and grandchildren during the summer. After Wally's death in July 1981, Opal lived in Okoboji, and she cared for her mother until Hazel passed away in August of 1982. In the following years, Opal lived in various communities in the surrounding area including Spirit Lake, Lake Park, Milford and Spencer. At various times she worked for Wal-Mart, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Spirit Lake School District, the Turner Funeral Home in Milford, and she worked at the Nutty Bar stand during the Clay County Fair. For several years Opal also served as the Director of the Dickinson County Historical Society and Museum... Opal was active in community organizations throughout her adult l life. These included The Oder of the Eastern Star, the Republican Party and various women's societies. Opal met life with the determination and fortitude fairly earned from her early life on the family farm. She did not suffer fools lightly, but she was always there to offer a helping hand to those who needed a lift up or just needed someone to talk to. So we now take time to mourn the loss of a dear friend, but then we celebrate the wonderful life she lived so well. Opal passed away peacefully after a brief stay at the Spencer Hospital on March 13, 2014. Opal was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Henry Blum, her husband Wally Smith, and her youngest son Jeffery Olsen. She is survived by her three sisters, Marjorie Clinkinbeard from Grass Valley, California, Coleen Strube from Ellenton, Florida, and Patti Lewis from Lititz, Pennsylvania; her daughter, Vicki from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and son Steven from San Diego, California; two daughter in-laws, Sharon Olsen from San Diego, California, and Cindy Olsen from Rensselaer, New York; three granddaughters, Jami Paige Hafer from Hayward, California, Kimberly Shawn McGonegal and her husband Tim McGonegal from Temecula, California, and Marjorie Isbester and her husband Paul Isbester from Castleton-On-Hudson, New York; three grandsons, James Hafer, Jr. from Colstrip, Montana, Jaret Olsen and his wife Lori from Chula Vista, California, and Jeffery Olsen, Jr. from Rensselaer, New York; one great-granddaughter, Kylie Olsen from Chula Vista, California; five great-grandsons, Nick and Alex McGonegal from Temecula, California, Jalen Olsen from Chula Vista, California, George and Aleck Isbester from Castleton-On-Hudson, New York, and; several cousins and other family members.